Dr Michelle Antoinette

Dr Michelle Antoinette

Lecturer, Art History & Theory Program

Department of Fine Art

Dr Michelle Antoinette is a Senior Lecturer and Researcher in Art History and Theory, and Director of the Bachelor of Art History and Curatorial program at Monash University. She lives and works on the Country of the Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation, outside Naarm in Greater Melbourne.

Her teaching in art and curatorial studies is situated within practices of decolonising art’s histories, while her research focuses on modern and contemporary Asian art histories, especially contemporary art histories of Southeast Asia and their intersections with globalisation. Her Asia interests extend beyond Asia’s geographical borders to encompass the art of Asian diasporas and their contributions to national and transnational art histories, including Asian-Australian artists.

Michelle previously held research and teaching positions at the Australian National University, Canberra, where she was Convenor and Lecturer for courses on Asian and Pacific art and museums. She has held major Australian Research Council Fellowships researching developments in contemporary Asian art and museums: 'The Rise of New Cultural Networks in Asia in the Twenty-First Century' (DP1096041) and the ARC DECRA project ‘Asian Art Publics’ (2017–20 grant no DE170100455).

Her significant publications include Reworlding Art History: Encounters with Contemporary Southeast Asian Art after 1990 (Brill | Rodopi, 2015) and with Caroline Turner, Contemporary Asian Art and Exhibitions: Connectivities and World-making (ANU Press, 2014).

In 2019, with Wulan Dirgantoro, she co-curated the exhibition Shaping Geographies: Art, Woman, Southeast Asia, which was held in Singapore and included several Asian-Australian women artists. In 2020, she was co-editor with Francis Maravillas for the special issue of World Art, 'Contemporary art worlds and art publics in Southeast Asia' leading to the 2022 symposium Shifting Grounds, New Horizons: Thinking and doing contemporary Southeast Asian art now.

For more on Michelle's research activities you can visit her research website. Michelle supervises a broad range of graduate projects at Monash University, across Art History & Theory, Curatorial Practice, and Fine Art Practice (NB. not all graduate projects are represented below). The focus of these graduate research projects often lies with: the histories and theories underpinning contemporary Asian art and exhibitions including that connected to Asian artist diasporas, contemporary art and curating beyond the Western canon in global art contexts, and decolonising methods and practices in art history, curating and art-making.