Michelle Ussher
Fire Station Residency
2015-2020
Michelle Ussher makes paintings, ceramics and sounds that hint at the mischievous. They work as tools for flirting, to draw people into an environment where images, form and sound probe the subjective and conditional nature of perception. By scrutinising the world of intimacy, Michelle decolonises symbolic representations of the female and of sexuality to find new perspectives by re-imaging and transforming those found in Western European thought and its art-objects.
Since graduating from the Victorian College of the Arts, The University of Melbourne in 2002 Michelle's work has been exhibited in the UK, Italy, Switzerland, the USA and Australia, and has presented at numerous key museums in Australia such as Art Gallery of Western Australia (2019), TarraWarra Museum of Art (2014) and Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (2008), as well as Artspace (2015) and Gertrude Contemporary (2008). Recent solo exhibitions include Medusa’s Room, Station Gallery, Melbourne 2017; The Mind goes out to Meet itself, Artspace, Sydney, 2015; and Two Eyeballs on the Run – Looking for a New Head to House. KALIMANRAWLINS, Melbourne, 2012.
Fire Station Residency 2015-2020
Acme's residency at the Fire Station is one of the most directly supportive schemes for artists in the United Kingdom, providing combined studio and living space at low rents, as well as a half rent residency for a deaf or disabled artist. This five year fixed-term residency scheme is intended to allow artists more time to concentrate on the development of their work and professional careers, and less time working to survive. 2015-2020 residents were selected by former Acme Residency and Projects Manager Julia Lancaster, and artists and former Fire Station residents Erika Tan and Ben Cove.