2024 media release

Media Release: 19 November 2024 

Thousands converge on RMIT School of Art for two graduate exhibitions

Opening celebrations for  
RMIT School of Art Graduate Exhibitions 
5-8 pm TUESDAY 19 NOVEMBER  
and 5-8pm TUESDAY 3 DECEMBER 2024 

At the end of each year, RMIT School of Art transforms into a rabbit warren of exhibition spaces showcasing the achievements of their graduating students.  It takes a community of hundreds of students and staff to achieve this transformation, culminating in two events to be held 5-8pm Tuesday 19 November and Tuesday 3 December. The celebrations start on Bowen Street and weave throughout the campus, including RMIT First Site Gallery on Swanson Street. It is quite the party, with awards, food and DJs to welcome family, friends and the art community who delight in discovering gems throughout the complex of converted classrooms and studios. 

Taking place between 19 November to 8 December 2024 at the RMIT University city campus in Melbourne, the two graduate exhibitions offer the public a rich opportunity to engage with a range of practices, from painting, drawing, sculpture, gold & silversmithing, ceramics, print, video/sound art, art in public space art to photography. Graduating students will be on-site throughout the exhibitions creating an opportunity to speak with the emerging artists and photographers directly.   

Master of Fine Art graduate Celline Mercado creates uncanny installations of suspended furniture laboriously wrapped in coloured wool.  For example, ‘Breathing Room’ (2024) presents the transient space of a dorm room at its bare minimum – a bed frame, a desk, a swivel chair, and a table lamp. The elements of her works echo the displacement of an international student. Her work will be installed in the second graduate exhibition open 3-8 December. (Graduate Profile: Celline Mercado – RMIT School of Art Graduates) 

Visit RMIT First Site Gallery 19-24 November to see Li Letita Shen’s exquisite Tooth, Tooth, Throw It Onto The Roof. This series miniature gold and silversmithing works playfully explore the Chinese tradition of dealing with fallen baby teeth: throwing the lower baby teeth onto the roof and the upper ones under the bed to relieve children of the fear of losing teeth and to bless that permanent teeth do not grow crooked. (Graduate Profile: Li Letitia Shen – RMIT School of Art Graduates)  

Photographer Felix J Gailey has created series of sublime self-portraits as a means of engaging with his experience of invisible disability and chronic pain. “The self-portraits borrow the visual language of Romantic-era paintings coupled with in-camera effects to articulate the duality of strength and vulnerability that are required to navigate the reality of physical deterioration… A momento mori yet at the same time a call to the will to live.” Atrophia (The Candle at Both Ends) will be installed in the second graduate exhibition open 3-8 December. (Graduate Profile: Felix J Gailey – RMIT School of Art Graduates 

The exhibitions are up for a short time, but the School of Art Graduate website remains, with successive years of each cohort added to the site. Explore graduating student profiles online at schoolofartgraduates.rmit.edu.au 

 
Ranked the foremost art school in Australia by the QS World University Rankings (2024), the RMIT School of Art remains committed to fostering an environment where creative expression flourishes and innovative ideas are nurtured. The on-campus Graduate Exhibitions and online Graduate Profiles exemplify RMIT’s dedication to supporting the next generation of artists and photographers who will shape the future of art, photography and the broader creative industries and visual culture.  

Follow the build-up to the graduate exhibitions on Instagram at @RMIT_art and @rmitphoto  

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CONTACT: For images or additional information about the graduate exhibitions, please contact Bronwyn Hughes, Personal Assistant to Professor Kit Wise, Dean, School of Art, RMIT University, email bronwyn.hughes@rmit.edu.au 

IMAGE PERMISSIONS: media may use images from the School of Art Graduates website on the condition that any images used are credited with the creator’s name and acknowledge RMIT School of Art. https://schoolofartgraduates.rmit.edu.au 

UPDATES: please check the website for updates about events and opening hours https://schoolofartgraduates.rmit.edu.au