Associate Professor Michelle Antoinette

Michelle Antoinette is Associate Professor of Art History and Theory at Monash University. She lives and works on the Country of the Bunurong/Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation, neighbouring Naarm/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 for over fifteen years, including her role as Convenor and Lecturer for courses on Asian and Pacific art and museums. She has held major Australian Research Council awards researching developments in contemporary Asian art and curating: 'The Rise of New Cultural Networks in Asia in the Twenty-First Century' (DP1096041), the ARC DECRA project ‘Asian Art Publics’ (2017–20 grant no DE170100455), and most recently, the international team project 'Care and Repair: Rethinking Contemporary Curation for Conditions of Crisis' commencing in 2024 (DP240102206).

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

Michelle supervises a broad range of graduate projects at Monash University, across Art History & Theory, Curatorial Practice, and Fine Art Practice. The focus of these graduate research projects often lies with: the practice, histories and theories of contemporary Asian art and exhibitions, 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.

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