Through a series of Ballot Box discussions presented in partnership with the Australian Queer Archives (AQuA), we will explore how art making can intersect with archival work.

Part One took place on Sunday 4 June with Melbourne Now artist Raf McDonald in discussion with Coral Guan, Project Assistant, International Exhibition Projects, NGV. Part Two took place on Sunday 25 June, and paired Melbourne Now artist Drew Pettifer with Angela Bailey, President of AQuA.

Part Three will conclude the series on Sunday 23 July and invites Melbourne Now artist Hannah Gartside to speak conversation with Meg Slater, Curator of International Exhibition Projects, NGV.

Their discussion will respond to the following provocation: Share the story of an item of clothing or textile that has been handed down to you, and how you have preserved, honoured, or built upon its history. Why have you held onto it? What does it elicit for you that is meaningful?

Held in Community Hall and in keeping with the spirit of Australian community halls, these discussions will be informed by your voices. We invite you to share your responses to the provocation here.

Meg Slater

Meg Slater (she/they) is Curator, International Exhibition Projects at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV). Since 2017, Meg has worked on a number of the NGV’s major international exhibitions, including MoMA at NGV: 130 Years of Modern and Contemporary Art, French Impressionism from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the forthcoming Pierre Bonnard: Designed by India Mahdavi. Meg was also one of the five curators who organised QUEER: Stories from the NGV Collection (2022), the most historically expansive thematic presentation of its kind ever presented by an Australian art institution. In 2021, Meg completed a Master of Art Curatorship at The University of Melbourne with First Class Honours. Meg’s thesis explored the potential for large arts institutions to more meaningfully engage with marginal subjects and histories through exhibition making and programming.

Hannah Gartside

Hannah Gartside works across sculpture and installation. She primarily uses second-hand and vintage clothing and fashion accessories in her artwork, selecting materials for their embodied stories and particular physicalities, or what the artist refers to as ‘accrued lived experience’. With these textiles, she creates dynamic, poetic and dreamlike sculptures. Her works express emotional landscapes: desire, longing, righteous fury; co-opting and transforming the rich histories of the garments she works with. Gartside was born in the UK but has lived in Australia since she was six. She completed a Bachelor of Fine Art (Fashion Design) at Queensland University of Technology in 2010 and a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Sculpture and Spatial Practice) at the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne, in 2019. She has exhibited at many galleries and institutions around Australia, including the Institute of Modern Art and QUT Art Museum in Queensland; and the Ian Potter Museum and Caves Gallery in Victoria. She has also undertaken residencies at the Australian Tapestry Workshop and the Varda Artist Residency in California. Prior to her visual art training Gartside worked as a costume maker, including for the Queensland Ballet.

NGV x AQuA: Pride Month

This program is part of NGV x AQuA: Pride Month, a series of talks, discussions and workshops in Community Hall presented by NGV in collaboration with the Australian Queer Archives (AQuA). Shining a light on subjects ranging from the role of community archives within society to the potential for art to function as an archive, these programs will invite community members and Melbourne Now artists to reflect on the importance of documenting, sharing and interpreting marginalised histories and experiences. More information on the series can be found here.