Frances Barrett wins the Mollie Holman Medal for best thesis

Monash PhD graduate Dr. Frances Barrett has been awarded the Mollie Holman medal for the best thesis from Monash Art Design and Architecture (MADA).

The Mollie Holman Medal was established in 1998. The medal is one of the highest academic honours bestowed by Monash, and marks the recipients as researchers of the highest order.

Each year a maximum of ten medals are awarded to doctoral students, who have presented their faculty’s best thesis.

For Frances Barrett winning the Mollie Holman Medal was both an honour and a recognition of her efforts.

“I think when you accomplish a PhD it's such a personally significant experience, and then for the university to recognise the work is really humbling, “ she said.

Frances completed her Curatorial Practice PhD programme in 2021. Her thesis ‘Meatus: A Curatorial Passage’, centred on queer methodologies of curating.

A ‘meatus’ is an opening leading into the interior of the body, such as nasal passages and the ear canal. From this perspective Frances explored the practices and experiences of listening.

As part of her practice led PhD Frances presented the immersive sound installation at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art in April 2022, transforming the gallery into a staging of the body through sound and light.

Frances’ thesis examined her role as an artist and curator, as well as her interests in  curating, performance art and collaborative processes. During the course of her PhD she attempted to develop a queer methodology for curatorial practice.

“For the thesis, I explored that queer methodology through collaborative processes, through the development of a sound installation, and through live performance,” Frances said.

“Sound, listening, collaboration and performance emerged as ways to think about what a queer methodology could be.”

Frances’ PhD supervisor, Associate Professor and Director of Curatorial Practice Dr.Tara McDowell reflected on the significance of her Mollie Holman medal success.

“Frances is so deserving of this award - her PhD has the potential to be a foundational text for queer curating, even as it unravels (queers) that very concept.“

“Her examination exhibition at ACCA was an extraordinary manifestation of queer friendship, desire, and bodies, channeled through the medium of sound,” she said.

Frances has a background in performance art, often using video and recently sound to convey her research.

She has collaborated with art collective Barbara Cleveland for the last 15 years, creating live performances in theatre and video mediums. Barbara Cleveland’s projects are informed by queer and feminist methodologies

“Performance and the collaborative process was foundational to how we worked,” she said.

“My practice has a long interest in performance and then progressively I started being interested in the practice of listening, both of which are  starting points for Meatus.”

Meatus included the sound work of several artists: Brian Fuata, Hayley Forward, Nina Buchanan, Sione Teumohenga,  Del Lumanta, Debris Facility Pty Ltd and audio technician Felix Abraham.

“I worked with a lot of artists who have taught me about performance or been in discussion with me around sound and listening.” Frances said.

“I always think that collaboration is a form of shared and public learning”