Communications

Annabell Lee is an emerging curator with a Master of Art Curatorship from the University of Melbourne. Her work focuses on public exhibitions and cultural preservation, with a strong interest in documenting and presenting underrepresented voices. She has collaborated with artists and curators in Unseen, the 50th Anniversary exhibition for Women’s Art Register, What is Given at George Paton Gallery and interned at VMG Art Series, assisting with rotational exhibitions.

At the Women's Art Register, Annabell works on communications coordination, stakeholder engagement, archive digitisation and curatorial projects. She also works with Heide Museum of Modern Art and various cultural events, bringing a practical and methodical approach shaped by her Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Grants and Membership

Beatrice works in grantmaking, supporting community-led and grassroots initiatives. She is particularly interested in projects that engage communities in multidisciplinary approaches. She is especially drawn to the role of art in fostering connection and participation.

She holds a Master of Art Curatorship from the University of Melbourne and a Bachelor of Arts in Culture and Heritage Management from the City University of Hong Kong. Before relocating to Melbourne in 2022, she worked across the arts sector in Hong Kong as an assistant producer and arts administrator at local theatres, and later in a commercial gallery in Melbourne.

Alongside her work, her creative practice centres on floral arrangement, a recently developed practice where she works with flowers and natural materials to explore form and spatial composition through installation and exhibition making.

Since joining W.A.R., she has supported grant applications and explored new funding opportunities to strengthen W.A.R.’s long-term sustainability.

Communications & Design

Brianna Simonsen is a Melbourne-based Interior Designer who investigates the intersection between the Arts and Interiors through a speculative research approach. Graduating with First Class Honours from Interior Design at RMIT University in 2023, her major project deconstructed ideas around monumentalising and feminism. This work was exhibited in Bates Smart Gallery (2023) and George Paton Gallery, Melbourne University (2025).

In 2024, Brianna joined the Women’s Art Register with the intention to reconnect with a community of artists and to continue the questioning of feminism, and what this means, in different spaces.

Treasurer

Christina is a designer-maker with more than 30 years experience in weave design and has been described as ‘a trailblazer in her field’ for being one of the first in Victoria to master the compu dobby loom. Christina would go on to lecture and mentor other students in this instrument; also lecturing in Computer Aided Design and Business Management at RMIT University, Studio Textiles. Currently Christina runs her own studio, producing textile pieces to wear.

Christina was our volunteer bookkeeper for over 16 years and oversaw significant change in technology for book-keeping, sharing her knowledge with committee members along the way. After a two year break she has rejoined the committee. Many W.A.R. programs have benefited from Christina’s participation. Those more recent include the W.A.R. 2015 AS IF: When and Now (member’s exhibition QV centre); 2017 Women in Art Forum (Richmond Theaterette); 2022 W.A.R. stand at the Richmond Festival of Women (North Richmond Housing Estate); 2023 archiving volunteer WARPP project and SAVE AS (NGV as part of Melbourne Now).

Collections Management

Hilary Kwan is an emerging conservator holding a Master of Cultural Materials Conservation and a BA in Anthropology and History from the University of Melbourne. She specialises in object conservation, with a research interest in the collection management and conservation of polymer materials in contemporary art.

Hilary has previously worked at Museum Victoria as an exhibition assistant and interned at the National Trust, Grimwade Conservation Services and the UMSU Archive. Moving from Hong Kong to Melbourne deepened her passion for preserving cultural materials and promoting cultural diversity. Since joining W.A.R. in 2021, Hilary has been managing WAR volunteers and coordinating projects in cataloguing, collection management, preventive conservation, education programs and W.A.R. events.

Secretary

Karina is a curator and researcher whose work explores textile history, cultural sustainability, and community engagement through design. She holds a Master of Curating Contemporary Design from Kingston University and the Design Museum London, and a Bachelor of Photography from Photography Studies College Melbourne. With experience across museums, galleries and grassroots organisations in the UK, Australia, and Cyprus, Karina supports inclusive and community-led approaches to collections and cultural heritage. Alongside the Register, Karina also volunteers with the Fashion Heritage Network Cyprus and Heide Museum of Modern Art. She was inspired to join the organisation in 2025, motivated by W.A.R.'s archival history, public programming, and Bulletin journal.

Chair

Kirsty Gorter has been an exhibiting artist, teacher and unionist for over 50 years. Kirsty’s art practice includes drawing, painting, animation and sculpture. Today most work is mostly 2 and 3 dimensional textiles and found objects. Kirsty has exhibited both nationally and internationally. Kirsty taught full time in Secondary (1981–1994), TAFE and most recently fulltime at RMIT (1994–2022) in the School of Fashion and Textiles. Kirsty has been an active member of teaching unions; most recently as the RMIT AEU Sub-branch president (2006–2022).

Kirsty first joined the Women’s Art Register in 1983; was on the W.A.R. Advisory Committee (1985–1988) & Management Committee (1988–1991); and re-joined the W.A.R. committee as a general member in 2024. Since then as part of the W.A.R. committee she has assisted in archiving and inducting volunteers.

Project Development and Education

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.