Leah King-Smith: rhythm wRites Forum

Through her multidimensional photographic layering technique, Leah King-Smith (she/her) explores interdimensional portals, seeking to evoke dream states that promote contemplative reverie. Having completed a Master of Arts by research at QUT in 2001 and a PhD in visual arts in 2006, King-Smith's most recent post was Lecturer and Academic Lead (Indigenous) in Learning and Teaching in QUT’s School of Creative Arts. Her work is held in many public and private collections in Australia and internationally, including the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of New South Wales, and Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art.

Robert Andrew (he/him) is a descendant of the Yawuru people. Yawuru Country is the lands and waters in and around Rubibi (the town of Broome) in the Kimberley region, Western Australia. Andrew’s work investigates personal and family histories that have been denied or forgotten. His work speaks to the past yet articulates a contemporary relationship to his Country—using technology to make visible the interconnecting spiritual, cultural, physical, and historical relationships with the land, waters, sky, and all living things. He has held recent solo exhibitions at Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA) and Museum of Old and New Art (MONA). Andrew’s work has been presented in major group exhibitions in Australia and internationally including: 23rd Biennale of Sydney; 4th National Indigenous Art Triennial;  TarraWarra Biennial; Overlapping Magisteria: The 2020 Macfarlane Commissions, Australian Centre of Contemporary Art; Jinan Biennale; Yokohama Triennale; The National: New Australian Art, Art Gallery of New South Wales; and Colony: Frontier Wars, National Gallery of Victoria (NGV). His work is held in the collections of the NGV, National Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Moreton Bay, Araluen Art Centre, and Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art. In 2023 he was the recipient of Moreton Bay Regional Galleries’ 15 Artists acquisitive art prize. Andrew has a Doctor of Visual Arts (2019) and has completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Griffith University, Brisbane. Robert Andrew is represented by Milani Gallery, Meanjin/Brisbane.

Bianca Beetson (she/her) is a Kabi Kabi, Wiradjuri and Ngemba woman and has been a practising artist for over 29 years. Beetson works across a broad range of media including painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, photography, fibre arts and public art. In 2018 Bianca was awarded a Doctor of Visual Art, from the QLD College of Art, Griffith University. Beetson is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor with Griffith University. She is a former member of the seminal Aboriginal artists collectives Campfire group and proppaNOW. Beetson also has a background in curation and community engaged and collaborative arts practice and has won awards for the guest curation of the “Myall Creek and Beyond.” Beetson has lectured and directed the Bachelor of Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art (BCAIA) degree at the Qld College of Art, Griffith University from 2007-2019 and later went on to be the Director of Indigenous Research Unit at the same institution. From 2022 to 2024, Beetson was a member of the Interim Truth and Treaty Body QLD; and co-designed the ‘Path to Treaty Bill 2023’ In 2023, she became the inaugural Executive Director, First Nations at the QLD Museum. Her current board and advisory group memberships include the board of trustees of the QLD Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art and its Audit and Risk committee and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander advisory panel. She is the Chair of the Cairns Indigenous Art fair and a member of the Office of the Arts: Advisory Committee for Indigenous Repatriation.

Nici Cumpston (she/her) is a proud Barkindji artist, curator and educator, whose family are also of Afghan, Irish and English descent. Barkindji are the River people who belong to the Barka, the Darling River in far western New South Wales, Australia. Specialising in photography, Cumpston has worked as a photographic lecturer at Tauondi Aboriginal Community College, Port Adelaide, as well as at the University of South Australia. She wrote and delivered the inaugural Indigenous Art, Culture and Design course to the South Australian School of Art students before commencing at the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA) in 2008. Most recently Cumpston was the Curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art at AGSA and from 2014 to 2025 was also the Artistic Director of Tarnanthi Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art. An exhibiting artist since 1998, she has been invited to participate in many prestigious awards, group and solo exhibitions, and her work is held in major institutions and private collections nationally and internationally. Cumpston is Director, Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia.

Deb Duthie (she/her) is a Wakka Wakka Warumungu woman with family ties to Cherbourg Queensland and Tennant Creek Northern Territory. She is the Director of Indigenous Health (Faculty of Health) and an Associate Professor in the School of Public Health and Social Work (Faculty of Health). For the past 8 years, Duthie has successfully coordinated the Cherbourg-QUT Project whereby transdisciplinary student teams collaborate with Industry partners on Aboriginal Community-initiated projects using a participatory action research framework. In a practice context, Duthie has 10 years’ experience working in the domestic and family violence sector and with families experiencing homelessness. Duthie completed her PhD – Reinvigorating the domestic violence sector: Systemically addressing power, conflict and practitioner turnover in the domestic violence sector - in 2012. Duthie has been awarded the QUT Vice Chancellors Excellence Award for the Cherbourg-QUT Project (2014), the Australian Award for University Teaching (2016), the David Gardener Teacher of the Year Award (2018) and the Australian Technology Network Learning and Teaching Excellence Award (2018) and Australian Award for University Teaching Award for Community Engagement (2019) for her work in teaching Indigenous Knowledges and Studies; the  Innovation and Creative Practice Excellence Award for the Indigenous Conversation Series (2021); and the Inclusion and Diversity Excellence Award for Cultural Safety and Indigenous Issues School Champion (2021).

Keely Eggmolesse (she/her) is a proud Kabi Kabi, Gooreng Gooreng and South Sea Islander woman with more than 12 years’ experience in the arts and community sectors. As a multidisciplinary artist, Keely enjoys exploring and combining different modalities in her rich storytelling. Her practice is built around embodied vocal techniques, informed by culture and community, and inspired by the song of country, tapping into her generational knowledge of healing through song.

Ellen van Neerven (they/them) is an award-winning author, editor and educator of Mununjali and Dutch heritage, working across fiction, poetry, plays and non-fiction. Their first book, Heat and Light (UQP, 2014), a novel-in-stories, was the recipient of the David Unaipon Award, the Dobbie Literary Award and the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards Indigenous Writers Prize.  Their first poetry collection Comfort Food (UQP, 2016) won the Tina Kane Emergent Award and was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards Kenneth Slessor Prize. Throat (UQP, 2020) was the recipient of Book of the Year, the Kenneth Slessor Prize and the Multicultural Award at 2021 NSW Literary Awards and the inaugural Quentin Bryce Award. Personal Score: Sport, Culture, Identity (UQP, 2023), a book that weaves history, memoir, journalism and poetry, received the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Non-Fiction and is forthcoming in North America in April 2024 through Two Dollar Radio. They are the editor of three collections, including the recent Homeland Calling: Words from a New Generation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voices and Unlimited Futures with Rafeif Ismail. Their latest book, Ruby’s Web (Magabala, 2026) is for middle grade readers.

Maria Van Neerven (she/her) is a Mununjali poet from the Yugambeh nation living in Meanjin. Maria was the winner of the David Unaipon Award in 2023 and was a Next Chapter Fellow in 2024. Her first poetry collection, Two Tongues was released in 2026.

This project is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland.