vivonne thwaites
curator
romi graham
My Loneliness is Killing Me
(painting of re-enactment of still taken from Britney Spears' 'Everytime' music video)
acrylic on canvas. 2010
Romi Graham is a graduate of the South Australian School of Art (2010), she spent six months of her degree studying at Buffalo State College in Buffalo, New York. She is a multidisciplinary artist, working in performance, video, installation, textiles, painting and drawing. She has organized and participated in several group exhibitions, three solo exhibitions and produced work collaboratively for ‘The Tea Party’, ‘Mystical Daze’ and ‘Yoko Faux Mo’.
Exhibitions include: 2011 (Upcoming) Eating Like Britney Spears/Britney Spears Eating (working title), The Project Space at CACSA, Adelaide; 2010 Painthing (as one), Australian Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide; Let’s Eat the Dead 2: Death Feast, Sugar, Adelaide; 2009, Included in annual Arts SA building hang, curated by Bridget Currie, Adelaide; Justin Timberlake/Romi Graham, FELT Space, Adelaide; Moving Image, SALA Festival, Adelaide; Big!, Queens Theatre, Adelaide; Junk Bonds, Format Festival, Adelaide; Road Movies, Contemporary Art Centre, Adelaide
“Last year a DVD compilation of Madonna music videos came out. Before that, my housemate and I used to watch The Immaculate Collection on VHS while drinking before going out. We’d spend the whole time talking only about Madonna, or about the videos. Almost every time a new video starts I say, ‘I wish I had that outfit!’ Sometimes we have invited people over to watch with us, but we always ended up irritated, because our guests inevitably wanted to have conversations about other things.
Once my friend, Josie, posted a picture of a young, punky Madonna on my facebook page and said, ‘This is how I see you.’ It was one of the best compliments I’ve ever received. I hate seeing her with manicured eyebrows in the nineties. For some reason I like seeing blonde pop stars beaten up. And being a blonde pop star beaten up.” Romi Graham
romi graham - cv
| EDUCATION | |
| 2005-2010 | South Australian School of Art, Adelaide and State University of New York, Buffalo |
| SELECTED SOLO & GROUP EXHIBITIONS | |
| 2011 | (Upcoming) Eating Like Britney Spears/Britney Spears Eating (working title), The Project Space at CACSA, Adelaide |
| 2010 | Painthing (as one), Australian Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide |
| Let’s Eat the Dead 2: Death Feast, Sugar, Adelaide | |
| 2009 | Included in annual Arts SA building hang, curated by Bridget Currie, Adelaide |
| Justin Timberlake/Romi Graham, FELT Space, Adelaide | |
| Moving Image, SALA Festival, Adelaide | |
| Big!, Queens Theatre, Adelaide | |
| Junk Bonds, Format Festival, Adelaide | |
| Road Movies, Contemporary Art Centre, Adelaide | |
| 2008 | Constance Gordon Johnson Prize for Sculpture and Installation, South Australian School of Art, Adelaide |
| Moving Image, Queens Theatre & Mercury Cinema, SALA Festival, Adelaide | |
| Yoko Faux Mo, Old Stormy Summers Building, Adelaide | |
| Rush!, Richmond Hotel, Adelaide | |
| 2007 | Shock & Awe, Sound Lab, Buffalo |
| Mystical Daze, Liverpool Street Gallery, Adelaide | |
| Refill, Aroma Café, Adelaide | |
| 2006 | Me An My Shadow, Liverpool Street Gallery, Adelaide |
| Lies Desire and Sweet Arse Toys, Fifth Floor, Adelaide | |
| Out of Space, Pip Squeek in Saigon, Adelaide | |
| Masking TATE: This is not a SALA Exhibition!, Renaissance Arcade, Adelaide | |
| GALLERY & CURATORIAL EXPERIENCE | |
| 2009 | Big!, co-curator |
| 2008 | Art West 2008, curator and manager |
| 2007 | Downtown Art Space, student representative |
| 2006 | Curated student exhibitions at the University of South Australia |
| OTHER | |
| 2009 | Performed as Romi Graham/Britney Spears in When You’re Growin’ Up in a Small Town, Metropolitan Hotel, Adelaide |
| Featured in artist’s pages, W.E.S.T., Issue 2, pp. 24-32 | |
| ‘Lovestoned’, catalogue essay by Shaw Hendry for Justin Timberlake/Romi Graham, FELT Space, Adelaide | |
| ‘Love Compatibility Chart for Romi Graham and Justin Timberlake’, catalogue essay by Andrew Best for Justin Timberlake/Romi Graham, FELT Space, Adelaide | |
| ‘Youthful Voices’, article by Christine Nicholls, Asian Art News, Volume 19 Number 1, January/February 2009, p92-96 | |
| 2008 | ‘Yoko Faux Mo’, interview by Lenin Simos, dB magazine, Issue 438, 16-29 April, p. 11 |
| Arts Breakfast, interview on Radio Adelaide with Cath Kenneally, 12th April | |
| 2007 | ‘Mystical Daze’, (written with Celeste Aldahn) article for Excitement Machine, Number 8, August, p. 30-31 |
| ‘Someone Who Cares’, article in Vitamin, Episode 13, May/June, p. 14-15 | |
| 2006 | ‘I Loved You Before You Were Cool: Romi Graham interviews amira.h.’, Vitamin, Episode 12, March/April, p. 14-15 |