Vicki West
Launceston, Tasmania
Vicki West is a proud pakana artist of the trawlwoolway people from the Northeast coast region. She completed her Bachelor Fine Arts in 1999, First Class Honours in 2001 and Masters in 2008 (all University of Tasmania, School of Visual and Performing Arts)
West has maintained a strong local, national and international exhibition record since entering the field – including solo exhibitions in Adelaide, Launceston and Melbourne, numerous national exhibitions including Tarrawarra Biennial (2023) Defying Empire (2017) String Theory (2013), Menagerie (2009), tayenebe (2009), Woven Forms (2005), Native Title Business (2002) and The One Tree Project (2001). She has also exhibited in many group exhibitions throughout Australia, and is represented in many collections of major institutions including St Kilda City Council, St Kilda, VIC, Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney, NSW, Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, TAS, Australian National Museum, Canberra, ACT, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, ACT, Campbelltown City Bicentennial Art Gallery, Campbelltown, NSW, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, NSW and the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, NT, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, ACT. She has undertaken numerous public art installations including for Junction Festival/ Streets Alive -2010 / 12, Falls Festival Marion Bay -2010/11 and 12, and Taronga Zoo, NSW, 2012.
West has worked extensively at the community level, presenting workshops and undertaking projects through schools, museums and at festivals and conferences, both within Tasmania and nationally. She is currently the Children’s Arts and Culture facilitator for meenah neenah, an Aboriginal Arts Youth program in Launceston and the Aboriginal Learning facilitator for the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery.
West arts practice includes large scale installations, public artworks, incorporating multiple elements, smaller scale sculptural works, jewelry, textiles, painting and new media. She draws on traditional Tasmanian Aboriginal cultural practices and materials to create contemporary artworks that explore and celebrate cultural survival in the face of continuing colonial myths of the extinction of her people. – in her own words “we are still here”.
