Artist Bio
Megan Cope is a Quandamooka woman from North Stradbroke Island in
South East Queensland. Her site-specific sculptural installations, video
work and paintings explore the myths and methods of colonisation. Her
diverse practice also investigates issues relating to identity, the
environment, and mapping practices.
Most recently Cope’s large scale sculptural installations have been curated into three major national survey exhibitions, ‘The National’ (2017) at the Art Gallery of NSW, ‘Defying Empire: 3rd National Indigenous Art Triennial’ (Forthcoming 2017) at the National Gallery of Australia and ‘Sovereignty’ (2016) at ACCA.
In 2016 Cope was invited to create large scale installations for ‘Frontier Imaginaries’ at QUT Art Museum which toured to Al-Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art, Jerusalem. She also exhibited alongside Tracey Moffatt at Artspace in ‘Bereft’, a solo exhibition of sculptural and video work. Also in 2016 she was curated into a number of important institutional exhibitions including ‘The Fraud Complex’ at West Space, ’Another Day in Paradise’ at Campbelltown Arts Centre, ‘Proppanow’ at Footscray Arts Centre and ‘Revisioning Histories’ at Bundoora Homestead.
In 2015 Cope won the $50,000 Western Australian Indigenous Art Award at the Art Gallery of WA for her video work The Blaktism.
Cope’s work has been exhibited in Australia and internationally including at Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art; Gold Coast City Art Gallery; MONA FOMA, Hobart; ARC Biennial, Brisbane; Cairns Regional Art Gallery; Koori Heritage Trust, Melbourne; City Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand; Para Site Contemporary Art Space, Hong Kong; Careof Art Space, Milan; the Australian Embassy, Washington and Next Wave Festival, 2014. In 2015 Cope’s work was curated into an exhibition at Musées de la Civilisation in Québec, Canada, which also acquired her work for their permanent collection. She undertook a Time_Space_Place: Nomad Residency 2014 awarded through Performance Space, Sydney.
Cope was commissioned to create major site-specific work for the exhibition ‘My Country, I still call Australia Home’ at Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, 2013; as well as for the Melbourne Museum and the Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, 2015.
Additionally, Cope has managed and curated several art spaces and projects including tinygold, Desperate Spaces, and the artist handbook So You Want To Be An Artist, published by Artworkers Alliance. She was the Creative Director of the Brisbane Artist Run Initiatives (BARI) Festival in 2009-10.
Cope is a member of the Brisbane based Aboriginal Art Collective proppaNOW.
Most recently Cope’s large scale sculptural installations have been curated into three major national survey exhibitions, ‘The National’ (2017) at the Art Gallery of NSW, ‘Defying Empire: 3rd National Indigenous Art Triennial’ (Forthcoming 2017) at the National Gallery of Australia and ‘Sovereignty’ (2016) at ACCA.
In 2016 Cope was invited to create large scale installations for ‘Frontier Imaginaries’ at QUT Art Museum which toured to Al-Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art, Jerusalem. She also exhibited alongside Tracey Moffatt at Artspace in ‘Bereft’, a solo exhibition of sculptural and video work. Also in 2016 she was curated into a number of important institutional exhibitions including ‘The Fraud Complex’ at West Space, ’Another Day in Paradise’ at Campbelltown Arts Centre, ‘Proppanow’ at Footscray Arts Centre and ‘Revisioning Histories’ at Bundoora Homestead.
In 2015 Cope won the $50,000 Western Australian Indigenous Art Award at the Art Gallery of WA for her video work The Blaktism.
Cope’s work has been exhibited in Australia and internationally including at Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art; Gold Coast City Art Gallery; MONA FOMA, Hobart; ARC Biennial, Brisbane; Cairns Regional Art Gallery; Koori Heritage Trust, Melbourne; City Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand; Para Site Contemporary Art Space, Hong Kong; Careof Art Space, Milan; the Australian Embassy, Washington and Next Wave Festival, 2014. In 2015 Cope’s work was curated into an exhibition at Musées de la Civilisation in Québec, Canada, which also acquired her work for their permanent collection. She undertook a Time_Space_Place: Nomad Residency 2014 awarded through Performance Space, Sydney.
Cope was commissioned to create major site-specific work for the exhibition ‘My Country, I still call Australia Home’ at Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, 2013; as well as for the Melbourne Museum and the Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, 2015.
Additionally, Cope has managed and curated several art spaces and projects including tinygold, Desperate Spaces, and the artist handbook So You Want To Be An Artist, published by Artworkers Alliance. She was the Creative Director of the Brisbane Artist Run Initiatives (BARI) Festival in 2009-10.
Cope is a member of the Brisbane based Aboriginal Art Collective proppaNOW.
