Monique La Fontaine is a contemporary Australian artist, writer, curator and educator whose creative work explores the mythical dimensions of everyday life. She has curated and project-managed award-winning cultural projects, working with artists in regional and remote communities across Western Australia and has authored, co-authored and edited several books, which explore the cultures, histories, art practices and political struggle of First Nations peoples, centring their own voices. Monique has exhibited across Australia and internationally, with shows in Barcelona, Istanbul, Oaxaca Mexico, Zurich and Berlin. She completed a Master of Contemporary Art at the Victorian College of the Arts, graduating in 2016 with the Lionel Gell Award for excellence. She has been teaching art to students of all ages since 2017 and is currently a lecturer at The Australian College of the Arts (Collarts). Monique is also a passionate student and practitioner of astrology, which combines her interests in philosophy, psychology, history, science and mysticism.
SELECTED PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2019 - Lecturer, Visual Projects, Drawing & Illustration Foundations, Critical Thinking & Group Projects.
Australian College of the Arts (Collarts)
2021 Art educator, Uniting Age Well
2017-20 Specialist art educator, Arts & Minds program, Live Love Shine & Art Encounters.
2017-19 Specialist art educator, Creative Odysseys, children’s art programs
2011-13 Senior curator, FORM. Project manager and team leader, Canning Stock Route Project.
2007-10 Co-curator, content manager & researcher, Canning Stock Route Project.
Co-curator, Yiwarra Kuju. Curator, One Road. FORM & National Museum of Australia.
2003-07 Contributing editor and art director, New Legend: A Story of Law and Culture and the Fight for
Self-determination in the Kimberley. Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre (KALACC).
2002 Coordinator, art projects, Marninwarntikura Women’s Resource Centre.
2000 Coordinator, First National Indigenous Youth Dance Forum.
1998-01 Youth support worker and designer, Modern Dreamtime Dancers.
1996 Design Assistant, Barking Gecko Thetare Company and Awesome International Arts Festival
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2023 Night Beings, Open Studio (solo)
2017 Homing: All the inner worlds and outer shrines, SOMA Gallery, Melbourne (Solo)
2017 L’Etranger, aMBUSH Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2016 Masters show, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, Australia
2014 Shadow of memory, Institut für Alles Mogliche, Berlin, Germany. (Solo)
2014 You can read me like a book, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Oaxaca, Mexico. (Solo)
2014 Glogauair open studios, Glogauair, Berlin, Germany
2014 Doubles, Abteilung fur Alles Andere, Berlin, Germany
2014 Your body is a battleground, Untitled BCN, Barcelona, Spain
2013 Unbecoming, Repeat Offender Gallery, Subiaco, Western Australia. (Solo)
2013 Parquet Blanques, Untitled BCN, Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
2013 The moment is the outcome, Maumau, Istanbul, Turkey
2012 Living walls, FORM Gallery, Perth, Western Australia
2002 As above, so below, Shinju Art Prize, Broome, Western Australia
2002 Second skin, D’Antoines, Broome, Western Australia. (Solo)
2001 Mirrors and shadows, Old Durack Gallery, Broome, Western Australia. (Solo)
2001 Red, Fitzroy Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
1999 Works from Kennedy Hill, Old Broome News, Broome, Western Australia
1998 Between worlds, Chinatown Concourse, Broome, Western Australia. (Solo)
1996 Long Wind, Moore’s Building, Fremantle, Western Australia. (Solo)
1995 Waste, Vane Hart Artery, Artrage, Subiaco, Western Australia
1995 Temple of desires, Old Boans Warehouse, Perth, Western Australia
SELECTED CURATED EXHIBITIONS
2013 Yiwarra Kuju: the Canning Stock Route, Queensland Museum Brisbane, Australia (Co-curated)
2012 Heart of the Country. Barefoot College, Centre for Social Work and Research, Tilonia, Rajasthan, India
2012 Deserts and Rivers. FORM Gallery, Perth, Western Australia
2012 The Pilbara Project, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, India. (Co-curated)
2012 Living walls. FORM Gallery, Perth, Western Australia
2011 Yiwarra Kuju: the Canning Stock Route, Australian Museum Sydney, Australia. (Co-curated)
2011 Yiwarra Kuju:, Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, Perth, WA. (Co-curated)
2010 Yiwarra Kuju: the Canning Stock Route, National Museum of Australia, Canberra. (Co-curated)
2008 Telling our stories, Tjukurba Gallery, Wiluna, Western Australia. (Co-curated)
2008 Works from the Canning Stock Route, Olympic Expo, Beijing, China. (Co-curated)
2007 New Legend, William Mora Gallery, Melbourne, Australia. (Co-curated)
2000 Shelter, Marninwarntikura, Fitzroy Crossing, Western Australia
1999 Works from Kennedy Hill, Old Broome News, Broome, Western Australia
1998 Matso’s People’s Choice Award, Matso’s Gallery, Broome, Western Australia
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2011 Ngurra Kuju Walyja — One Country, One People: Stories from the Canning Stock Route. Acker, T.,
Carty, J., La Fontaine, M., Davenport, C., Tonkinson, R., Veth, P. et al. Edited by Monique La
Fontaine & John Carty. South Yarra, Victoria, Australia: Macmillan Art Publishing.
2011 You’d be home by now. La Fontaine, M. Edited by Patricia Molloy and Virginia Bott. Brooklyn, New
York: Brooklyn Art Library.
2011 “Enchanted rest stop” in Fieldnotes from the Pilbara Project. La Fontaine, M. Edited by Elisha
Buttler. Perth, Western Australia: FORM
2010 Yiwarra Kuju: the Canning Stock Route. Davenport, C., Carty, J., La Fontaine, M., and Pickering, M.
Canberra, Australia: National Museum of Australia.
2006 New Legend: A Story of Law and Culture and the Fight for Self Determination in the Kimberley. La
Fontaine, M. Edited by Pat Lowe and Monique La Fontaine. Fitzroy Crossing: Kimberley Aboriginal Law
& Culture Centre.
RESIDENCIES
2017 Australian International Academy, artist in residence, Coburg, Melbourne.
2014 Glogauair, Berlin, Germany.
2014 Institut für Alles Mogliche, Berlin, Germany.
2014 Lessingstrasse, Zurich, Switzerland.
2014 La Biblioteca del Mar, Oaxaca, Mexico.
2013 Untitled BCN, Barcelona, Spain.
2013 Maumau, Istanbul, Turkey.
2012 Barefoot College, Social Work and Research Centre, Tilonia, India.
1998 Broome Fringe Festival, Broome, Western Australia.
AWARDS
2017 Athenaeum Club Visual Arts Research Award, shortlist.
2016 Lionel Gell Foundation Award for excellence, Master of Contemporary Art,
Victorian College of the Arts.
2011 MUSE Awards, American Association of Museums: Silver for Interpretive Interactive
Installation, One Road.
2011 National Winner: Australian Business Arts Foundation, Toyota Community Award.
The Canning Stock Route Project (FORM).
2006 Western Australian Premier’s Book Award nomination, Non-Fiction.
New Legend: A Story of Law and Culture and the Fight for Self Determination in the Kimberley.
EDUCATION
2016 Master of Contemporary Art, Victorian College Of The Arts, University of Melbourne
2011 White Card (WA), Construction Safety Awareness Training
2005 Kimberley Kriol language training, Broome, Western Australia
2003 Certificate II Music, Abmusic, Perth, Western Australia
2001 Metal fabrication Certificate II, Broome Tafe, Western Australia
1996 Theatre design traineeship, Barking Gecko Theatre Company and Awesome International Arts Festival
1993 Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art, English), Universities of Melbourne and Western Australia