Lea Rose: Direl Lake Tyrrell

Lea Rose (Irish settler) is a Naarm-based political ecologist, human and cultural geographer and emerging artist. Rose is undertaking a transdisciplinary PhD at the University of Melbourne, Faculty of Science (School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences), following postgraduate study in Contemporary Art at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA). Rose’s research critically examines the legacies of colonial power, governance and systems of control, with a place-based focus on the impacts of colonisation on Direl (Lake Tyrrell), Mallee, Victoria.

Across academic and artistic practice, Rose fosters contemplative engagement with collective responsibility, exposes cultural injustices, and challenges Australia’s national psyche to reckon with colonial histories. This solo exhibition presents the culmination of Rose’s practice-led PhD research, bringing together fieldwork undertaken at Direl (Lake Tyrrell).