I hope you get this: Raquel Ormella was developed with the assistance of NETS Victoria’s Exhibition Development Fund, supported by Creative Victoria. The tour received funding from the Australian Government’s Visions of Australia program.

The accompanying catalogue was generously supported by the Gordon Darling Foundation.

NETS Victoria and Shepparton Art Museum would like to thank Raquel Ormella for her enthusiasm and commitment to the project.

We thank Josh Milani, Milani Gallery, Brisbane, for his support of the project; the birdwatchers of Shepparton; and to all those who follow Raquel so assiduously on social media. We would also like to thank the following lending institutions and their staff: Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Caloundra Regional Gallery, Qld; Campbelltown Arts Centre, NSW; Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne; QUT Art Museum, Brisbane; University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane; and private collectors who have assisted

with the project. Thanks to writers Reuben Keehan and Kyla McFarlane for their contributing texts that expand on Raquel’s work so eloquently, and to Chris McAuliffe, Professor of Art (Practice-led research), School of Art & Design, The Australian National University, for his ongoing support and opening remarks. Many thanks to the external teams that we work with at IAS and TED Fine Art, and the conservators and framers who assist us behind the scenes.

FROM THE ARTIST RAQUEL ORMELLA

Many thanks to everyone at SAM and NETS Victoria, especially Rebecca Coates, Anna Briers, Ellen Wignell and Mardi Nowak. Your support for my practice
and this exhibition has been a dream, I feel so lucky and blessed. Thank you to Reuben Keehan and Kyla McFarlane for their insightful essays and longstanding interest in my work.

Many thanks to the hands that have helped me in the studio to unpick, stitch, burn, iron and machine these fabric works: Jasmine (Jazz) Stevens, studio assistant on and off 2002–16, you rock!; Sharon (Shags) Gallagher, Abigayle Tett, Catherine Newton, Tiffany Cole, Ruby Green, Drew Moynihan and Jacqui Helma. And thank you especially to my family of assistants: Jo-Anne Boag, Daniel Ormella, Audrey Ormella and Alison Ormella.

Many thanks to Josh Milani, the best cheerleader- dealer ever; my colleagues at the School of Art & Design, ANU, especially Ruth Waller, Peter Alwast and Emma Beer; to Fernando Do Campo, Andrew MacQualter and Chris McAuliffe for the studio conversations that have gotten me out of holes; and Haico Koopmans for always being right.

The production of Wild rivers: Cairns, Brisbane, Sydney was supported by new work grants from artsACT and the Australia Council for the Arts.
It was completed with assistance from Peter ‘PJ’ Jackson and Tye McBride. The image of the Wenlock River is used with kind permission of Kerry Trapnell.

I thank the Wilderness Society, and particularly Lyndon Schneiders and Felicity Wade, for their trust and generous support of my research.

The production of City without crows was supported by a new work grant from the Australia Council for the Arts. The preliminary research was carried out
in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, with support from Gertrude Contemporary as part of their Independence Project. Many thanks to Jacqueline Doughty, Kristi Monfries and Grace Samboh for facilitating a rich and rewarding research time. City without crows was also presented as a performance in The National, curated by Anneke Jaspers at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 2017. Many thanks to production manager, Sarah Rodigari and to dramaturg, Nikki Hayward for their intellect and support in developing the project.

The production of the Workers blues and Golden soil series were completed while a One Year Artist Studio Resident at Artspace, Sydney.

Dr Raquel Ormella is a lecturer at the School of Art & Design, College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University

CATALOGUE WRITERS

Rebecca Coates
Director, Shepparton Art Museum

Reuben Keehan
Curator, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art

Kyla McFarlane
Curator of Academic Programs (Research), the Ian Potter Museum of Art