RMIT Grad Show - Charlotte’s Edit
The opening night of the RMIT grad show was sticky, heaving, and a good reminder that my clubbing days are behind me. Bec and I trekked to Swanston street twice to view it, once in all its opening night chaos, and then the next morning for a more relaxed, albeit agenda driven visit.
Sophie McDarra
Sophie McDarra’s WHERE HEARTS ONCE SLEPT had me returning not just both days, but wandering the hallway multiple times on opening night. The entire body of work is deserving of a peruse, but her three large scale canvases, taking up the entire wall, engulf you in colour and movement. A gorgeous blend between abstract washes of colour, the figures and backgrounds blend together, fragmented like recalling childhood memories. Having given herself the space to play, and let the compositions breath, McDarra wields oil paint with a lushness and temerity that feels beyond a BFA- I eagerly await what she does next.
Taking up its own corner, Ivy Brady’s A ROOM OF HER OWN felt like a hazy return home to the chaos of getting ready after a great night out. What pulled me in was the nightstand; bras hanging out of the drawers, lashes, makeup, and coffee mug all askew. The paintings on the wall directly above felt like polaroids, beautifully rendered in oil paint. Take the time to look down in the corner, for the untitled, close cropped portrait adorned with charms. The one larger painting, a sink, mirroring the chaos of the nightstand, a still life for the now. Brady’s use of colour, everything in a wash of pink is an incredible uniting aspect to all the works. It transformed a corner of a room filled with art into one utterly her own, a feat in such a packed exhibition space.
The show had many attention grabbing, large scale installations, but it was Rania Hisham’s 1958 that had me looking up until my neck hurt. Composed of 1958 teabags repeating the same three photographs in cyanotype, the work was a blue wave, coming towards you, washing you over with colour and memory. The three photos are from the wedding of the artist’s grandparents in 1958. The work is love at all levels- a labour of love (it would have to be, sewing 1958 teabags), community (the artist makes special mention of all of those who helped with the sewing), family, and memory.
The first movie I ever owned that was mine and mine alone was Barbie as the Nutcracker. A present from my older sister, the movie and that memory are treasured parts of my childhood (Tim Curry voiced the rat king, I will hear no Barbie slander). Catching sight of Piper Evison’s I LOVE MY SISTER in all its pixelated, pink, nostalgic glory took me back to that. Turning the Barbie and MyScene websites into welcome signs to the world she created, the entire body of work is an ode to childhood and sisterhood. Capturing the intermingling of the internet, memory, and home media, Evison plays with pixelation and distortion to blend oil painting and internet era childhood. Hanging paintings like posters in a childhood room, its the small details- My Little Pony toys hiding up high, a doorknob with fingers, teeth stuck to the wall- that bring you into the slightly surreal and subversive, reconsidering the paintings, looking closer at what may have been missed first go around.
Maaike Schipper’s installation of rag paper crowns felt eerie at first glance- crowns floating in the air, waiting for heads to perch on. The eeriness did not make it any less striking or put me off. Walking through them I felt like I was standing among ghosts. CROWN YOUR CHILD SELF WITH GRATITUDE is a work that demands to be stood among and looked at from all angles. The crowns are adorned with words- lined paper diary entries, lace, hands, pattern paper- all different moments that make up lives. In the same room is Coco L’s REMEMBERING, a video installation whose sound permeates the space. The video is projected onto a draped sheet from behind, the installation near as compelling as the video work itself.
I’ve taken the time to highlight the artists that I feel deeply worthy of your visit to the CBD, though I would be remiss to leave you with the impression that all of the art Bec and I saw at the grad show is worthy of praise. It isn’t. Quite a bit was derivative, many felt like works I had already seen multiple times this year, and a few were blatant ripoffs. Art is deeply subjective, and art school should be the place to experiment and push yourself, but there’s a difference between taking a swing and missing and simply dropping the bat.
I don’t think that it's any accident that the works I found most striking at the RMIT Grad Show were boldly colourful, fun, and nostalgic. Taking all forms, but definitely skewing more towards the painting and installation disciplines, the works that have stayed with me from my two visits to the show are deeply reminiscent of how I felt finishing my bachelors- nostalgic, wistful, and optimistic for the future ahead.
Read Bec’s write up of the 2025 RMIT Grad show here.