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
KIRSTY GORTER
General Member
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 WAR Advisory Committee (1985 – 1988) & Management Committee (1988 – 1991); and re-joined the WAR committee as a general member in 2024. Since then as part of the WAR committee she has assisted in archiving and inducting volunteers; and as part the 2025 WAR 50 th Anniversary celebrations, co-curated with Merren Ricketson, the exhibition "Landmarks 75/25: 50 years of the Women’s Art Register at the George Paton Gallery at Melbourne University in March 2025. To date Kirsty will be participating in 6 group exhibitions in 2025.
Kirsty’s website: kirstygorter.com
HILARY KWAN
Collection Management & Volunteer Coordinator
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 had previously worked at Museum Victoria as an exhibition assistant and had 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 WAR in 2021, Hilary has been managing WAR volunteers and coordinating projects in cataloguing, collection management, preventive conservation, education programs and WAR events.
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.
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.
KATE SMITH
Volunteer, Communications & Membership Coordinator
Kate Smith is a visual artist and writer. Her practice centres around ‘a sense of place’, exploring the whimsical nature of landscape and story. Her works have been shown in multiple exhibitions in Melbourne including the Melbourne Flower and Art Show (2024), Gertie Gallery and Feel Good Art Prize (2024). She completed her BA of Creative Arts majoring in Art and Literature (Australian Catholic University). Kate is a passionate writer of art history and is currently working on children's book illustrations.
ANNABELL LEE
Communications & Newsletter
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 had previously collaborated with artists and curators in 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 stakeholder engagement, archive digitisation, and curatorial projects. She also volunteers 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.
EMMA MCANELLY
Treasurer
Emma McAnelly is a visual artist focusing on autobiographical themes in her paintings. As her next creative milestone she aims to transition from group exhibitions to immersive solo exhibitions. Emma’s long-standing commitment to the arts began in the U.K., where she worked as a gallery assistant, next she explored utilising her creative skills as a Studio Assistant. This lifetime of moving through the arts has now culminated in her current endeavour as Treasurer at W.A.R.
WENDY LI
Co-Secretary
Wendy Li is an arts worker and a recent graduate of the Master of Art Curatorship from the University of Melbourne. She interned at The Torch and ISEA International, during which time she managed the database, registered artworks, and assisted in the completion of the “Confined 15” exhibition. Her interest in archives led her to the Women’s Art Register, where she works on minute-taking, email management, archiving, and content creation. Wendy is also a member of the SIGNAL Curators and a gallery attendant at the West Space.
HUNTER SMITH
Co-Secretary and Communications
Hunter Smith is an artist working in a studio-based and collaborative capacity across painting, drawing, video and writing. Her practice engages with extractivism, medical practice, industry and craft to contemplate land and reproductive rights in so-called Australia. She completed her Bachelor of Fine Art at the Victorian College of the Arts and has shown her work in spaces across Victoria and Western Australia.
BRIANNA SIMONSEN
Design & Communications
Brianna Simonsen is a Melbourne-based Interior Designer who investigates the intersection between the Arts and Interiors through a speculative research approach. Graduated 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.
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