Who we are
The Women’s Art Register is a not-for-profit organisation led by a professional team of artists and industry peers. Our membership is drawn from each state and territory in Australia.
Supported by our passionate group of members and volunteers, we work with a range of government, institutional and private partners. In particular, we value our long-held partnerships with the City of Yarra and the University of Melbourne, as well as our collaborations with local, national and international arts organisations and collectives.
Volunteers Leia Alex and Patsy Brown at the Women’s Art Register, 2020. Photo by Caroline Phillips.
Our vision
Australian women artists and their work are studied, celebrated, valued and represented fully and equally.
Our mission
We are Australia's peak resource for advocacy, education, knowledge and support for women artists.
Our values
We care for the Women's Art Register archive and for each other
We respect our volunteers and members
We are building a sustainable future for the Women's Art Register
We strive to amplify the voices of Australian women artists through leading research and advocacy
We facilitate social equity and improve access to the collection through innovative community programming
Our team
LEIA ALEX
Treasurer
Leia Alex is a passionate and creative coordinator who uses her arts management experience to help not-for-profit organisations amplify their reach and impact. Since moving to Melbourne in 2019, she has served as Program Coordinator for the Sustainable Living Foundation and Festival Coordinator for the Human Rights Arts & Film Festival. She joined the Women's Art Register Committee in early 2020 and works primarily on Archiving, Outreach & Networks. Leia loves not-for-profits and believes in the power of the arts to amplify voices, create empathy, inspire people and improve our communities at all levels, local to global.
GABRIELLE DELGADO
Treasurer Support / General Member
Gabrielle Delgado is an arts and not-for-profit business professional, holding an MBA and an undergraduate degree in Communications and Business from the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). Currently, she supports the City of Melbourne's Creative Urban Places team, providing business administration and financial support to large-scale public art projects. In a professional capacity, she has supported non-profit and government entities such as the National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders and the Victorian Government with change management and business experience. In her free time, Gabby is a dedicated volunteer within Melbourne's flourishing arts community at organisations like Prahran Community Learning Center, the Jewish Museum, and others. She is currently pursuing further postgraduate education at Deakin University in Museum Studies and Cultural Heritage, while maintaining her mixed media arts practice. From business acumen to creative expression, Gabby is proud to contribute to the archive and be an advocate for women artists.
HILARY KWAN
Collection Management & Volunteer Coordinator
Hilary Kwan is an emerging conservator studying the Master of Cultural Materials Conservation and holds a BA in Anthropology and History from the University of Melbourne. She specialises in object conservation, with research interests in the conservation of polymer materials in modern art objects. Since joining the Women’s Art Register in early 2021, she has been working on archiving, cataloguing and preventive conservation. Moving from Hong Kong to pursue higher education in Melbourne deepened her passion for preserving cultural materials and promoting cultural diversity.
SAHRA MARTIN
Communications & Membership Coordinator
Sahra Martin is a designer and archivist working across branding, publishing, communications and collection management. She runs the interdisciplinary practice Everywhere_Nowhere_. After graduating from Swinburne University’s Communication Design (Honours) program in 2016, she was awarded Australasian Graduate of the Year by the Design Institute of Australia. Prior to design, Sahra worked as a public sector archivist and holds qualifications in Information Management, Arts Management and Art History. She frequently collaborates on projects that enhance the communication and preservation of overlooked, experimental or community-centred practices and collections.
CLAUDIA PHARÈS
Inclusion & Accessibility Coordinator
Claudia Pharès is French-Canadian of Vietnamese-Egyptian descent. As an artist and a writer, she uses mother-centered feminism and autobiographical events to challenge misconceptions surrounding motherhood and invisible labour. In 2021–2022 she was guest editor of the W.A.R. Bulletin as well as the Artist-in-Residence in collaboration with And Also Presents. She has exhibited and collaborated in various shows in Australia and online. She was shortlisted as a finalist for the Percival Portrait Prize (2022), the Athenaeum Club Visual Arts Research Award (2019) and the Incinerator Art Gallery Award for Social Change (2018, 2021). She has been a recipient of the City of Yarra Grants (2018, 2020). She holds an MFA (2020) from the Victorian College of the Arts (University of Melbourne) and a BSc in Nursing (2004) from Laurentian University (Canada). Claudia lives in Naarm/Melbourne with her two children, and also works as a nurse.
CAROLINE PHILLIPS
Convenor | Development Coordinator
Caroline Phillips is a visual artist whose practice combines studio-based and collaborative projects that build feminist community. In her studio works Phillips uses sculpture and photography to reconfigure the abstract object as a contemporary feminist strategy. Her work has been exhibited in over 60 solo and group exhibitions at venues including NARS Foundation (NYC), George Paton Gallery (Melbourne), Cité International des Arts (Paris) and Slade Research Centre (London). Phillips holds a PhD from the Victorian College of the Arts (2017) and has published book chapters, catalogue essays and edited the Bulletin magazine. She has curated a number of projects including The f Word: contemporary femininst art in Australia (2014) at Gippsland Art Gallery and Ararat Gallery TAMA and was the 2020/21 Regional Ambassador (Oceania) for Art+Feminism.
MERREN RICKETSON
History & Education Coordinator
Merren Ricketson was a sessional educator at the National Gallery of Victoria for over 30 years, working concurrently coordinating W.A.R, co-directing Artmoves and initiating education programs at various galleries including ACCA. She curated Top Arts and managed the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority’s Season of Excellence Festival working with student artists, designers, performers, musicians and filmmakers for over a decade. She then studied Auslan and worked with Deaf artists who provided guided tours in Auslan at the NGV prior to Covid. More recently she devised and delivered education and public tours for the Flesh after Fifty exhibition.
SUPPORTED BY THE CITY OF YARRA
MAJOR PARTNERS
SUPPORTING PARTNERS
PROGRAM PARTNERS
COMMUNITY PARTNERS
