MONIQUE LA FONTAINE

Monique La Fontaine is a contemporary Australian artist, writer, curator and educator whose creative work explores the mythologies of identity and mundane life. She has worked with artists and communities across Western Australia to curate and project-manage award-winning cultural projects, and has authored, co-authored and edited a number of books on Aboriginal culture and history in North Western Australia. She has exhibited her own work in Australia, Barcelona, Istanbul, Oaxaca, Zurich and Berlin, and completed a Master of Contemporary Art at the Victorian College of the Arts In 2016, graduating with the Lionel Gell Award for excellence. Monique has been teaching art to students of all ages since 2017 and is currently a lecturer at The Australian College of the Arts (Collarts). Monique is also a passionate student of astrology, which combines her lifelong interests in history, philosophy, psychology, trauma, mysticism and divination.

SELECTED PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2019 - 23 Lecturer, Australian College of the Arts (Collarts)

2021 Art educator, Uniting Age Well

2017-20     Specialist art educator, Arts & Minds program, Live Love Shine & Art Encounters.

2011-13       Senior curator, FORM. Project manager and team leader, Canning Stock Route Project.

2007-10       Co-curator, content manager & researcher, Canning Stock Route Project.

Co-curator, Yiwarra Kuju. Curator, One Road. FORM & National Museum of Australia.

2003-07      Contributing editor and art director, New Legend: A Story of Law and Culture and the Fight for

              Self-determination in the Kimberley. Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre (KALACC).

2002          Coordinator, art projects, Marninwarntikura Women’s Resource Centre.

2000          Coordinator, First National Indigenous Youth Dance Forum.

1998-01      Youth support worker and designer, Modern Dreamtime Dancers.

1996          Design Assistant, Barking Gecko Thetare Company and Awesome International Arts Festival

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2017          Homing: All the inner worlds and outer shrines, SOMA Gallery, Melbourne (Solo)

2017          L’Etranger, aMBUSH Gallery, Sydney, Australia

2016          Masters show, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, Australia

2014          Shadow of memory, Institut für Alles Mogliche, Berlin, Germany. (Solo)

2014          You can read me like a book, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Oaxaca, Mexico. (Solo)

2014          Glogauair open studios, Glogauair, Berlin, Germany

2014          Doubles, Abteilung fur Alles Andere, Berlin, Germany

2014          Your body is a battleground, Untitled BCN, Barcelona, Spain

2013          Unbecoming, Repeat Offender Gallery, Subiaco, Western Australia. (Solo)

2013          Parquet Blanques, Untitled BCN, Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

2013          The moment is the outcome, Maumau, Istanbul, Turkey

2012          Living walls, FORM Gallery, Perth, Western Australia

2002          As above, so below, Shinju Art Prize, Broome, Western Australia

2002          Second skin, D’Antoines, Broome, Western Australia. (Solo)

2001          Mirrors and shadows, Old Durack Gallery, Broome, Western Australia. (Solo)

2001          Red, Fitzroy Gallery, Melbourne, Australia

1999          Works from Kennedy Hill, Old Broome News, Broome, Western Australia

1998          Between worlds, Chinatown Concourse, Broome, Western Australia. (Solo)

1996          Long Wind, Moore’s Building, Fremantle, Western Australia. (Solo)

1995          Waste, Vane Hart Artery, Artrage, Subiaco, Western Australia

1995          Temple of desires, Old Boans Warehouse, Perth, Western Australia

SELECTED CURATED EXHIBITIONS

2013          Yiwarra Kuju: the Canning Stock Route, Queensland Museum Brisbane, Australia (Co-curated)

2012          Heart of the Country. Barefoot College, Centre for Social Work and Research, Tilonia, Rajasthan, India

2012          Deserts and Rivers. FORM Gallery, Perth, Western Australia

2012          The Pilbara Project, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, India. (Co-curated)

2012          Living walls. FORM Gallery, Perth, Western Australia

2011          Yiwarra Kuju: the Canning Stock Route, Australian Museum Sydney, Australia. (Co-curated)

2011          Yiwarra Kuju:, Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, Perth, WA. (Co-curated)

2010          Yiwarra Kuju: the Canning Stock Route, National Museum of Australia, Canberra. (Co-curated)

2008          Telling our stories, Tjukurba Gallery, Wiluna, Western Australia. (Co-curated)

2008          Works from the Canning Stock Route, Olympic Expo, Beijing, China. (Co-curated)

2007          New Legend, William Mora Gallery, Melbourne, Australia. (Co-curated)

2000          Shelter, Marninwarntikura, Fitzroy Crossing, Western Australia

1999          Works from Kennedy Hill, Old Broome News, Broome, Western Australia

1998          Matso’s People’s Choice Award, Matso’s Gallery, Broome, Western Australia

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

2011      Ngurra Kuju Walyja — One Country, One People: Stories from the Canning Stock Route. Acker, T.,

              Carty, J., La Fontaine, M., Davenport, C., Tonkinson, R., Veth, P. et al. Edited by Monique La

              Fontaine & John Carty. South Yarra, Victoria, Australia: Macmillan Art Publishing.

2011      You’d be home by now. La Fontaine, M. Edited by Patricia Molloy and Virginia Bott. Brooklyn, New

              York: Brooklyn Art Library.                

2011       “Enchanted rest stop” in Fieldnotes from the Pilbara Project. La Fontaine, M. Edited by Elisha

              Buttler. Perth, Western Australia: FORM            

2010      Yiwarra Kuju: the Canning Stock Route. Davenport, C., Carty, J., La Fontaine, M., and Pickering, M.

              Canberra, Australia: National Museum of Australia.

2006      New Legend: A Story of Law and Culture and the Fight for Self Determination in the Kimberley. La

              Fontaine, M. Edited by Pat Lowe and Monique La Fontaine. Fitzroy Crossing: Kimberley Aboriginal Law

              & Culture Centre.

RESIDENCIES

2017          Australian International Academy, artist in residence, Coburg, Melbourne.

2014          Glogauair, Berlin, Germany.

2014          Institut für Alles Mogliche, Berlin, Germany.

2014          Lessingstrasse, Zurich, Switzerland.

2014          La Biblioteca del Mar, Oaxaca, Mexico.

2013          Untitled BCN, Barcelona, Spain.

2013          Maumau, Istanbul, Turkey.

2012          Barefoot College, Social Work and Research Centre, Tilonia, India.

1998          Broome Fringe Festival, Broome, Western Australia.

AWARDS

2017      Athenaeum Club Visual Arts Research Award, shortlist. 

2016       Lionel Gell Foundation Award for excellence, Master of Contemporary Art,

              Victorian College of the Arts.

2011       MUSE Awards, American Association of Museums: Silver for Interpretive Interactive

              Installation, One Road.

2011        National Winner: Australian Business Arts Foundation, Toyota Community Award.

              The Canning Stock Route Project (FORM). 

2006        Western Australian Premier’s Book Award nomination, Non-Fiction.

              New Legend: A Story of Law and Culture and the Fight for Self Determination in the Kimberley.

EDUCATION

2016          Master of Contemporary Art, Victorian College Of The Arts, University of Melbourne

2011          White Card (WA), Construction Safety Awareness Training

2005          Kimberley Kriol language training, Broome, Western Australia

2003          Certificate II Music, Abmusic, Perth, Western Australia

2001          Metal fabrication Certificate II, Broome Tafe, Western Australia

1996          Theatre design traineeship, Barking Gecko Theatre Company and Awesome International Arts Festival

1993          Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art, English), Universities of Melbourne and Western Australia