The Team.
Australia / UK
Art et al. was conceived and launched by Arts Project Australia, Slominski Projects and Jennifer Lauren Gallery in partnership with the Australia Council for the Arts. It is now led and developed by Slominski Projects, Jennifer Lauren Gallery and Jump Left.
To-date the initiative has operated through arts funding from Creative Australia (formerly Australia Council for the Arts), DFAT through their Australian Cultural Diplomacy Grants Program (ACDGP), British Council AU/UK Season 2021-22, British Council International Collaboration Grants and Connections Through Culture Grants, and the Aesop Foundation.
British Deaf artist Rebecca Vaughan explains about the Art et al. team, funders and advisory group
Art et al. Team
Jennifer Gilbert
Jennifer Lauren Gallery
Jennifer is a Manchester-based gallerist, freelance producer, and curator, working with self-taught, disabled, neurodivergent and overlooked artists. In 2017 she launched the Jennifer Lauren Gallery to showcase artists internationally, having previously managed a national arts charity for under-represented artists. Jennifer is passionate about promoting the voices and artworks of these artists to wider audiences, allowing their true artistic language to shine. Through her work, Jennifer hopes to: demystify what is regarded as art, continue to challenge the stigma surrounding this field, and to re-look at how work is displayed and written about within contemporary art.
Lisa Slominski
Slominski Projects
Lisa Slominski is an American writer, curator & researcher based in East London. Her work explores activations of access and inclusion in the current contemporary art discourse and examines the historical framework of underrepresented artists with a particular interest in agency. Recent writing and research have been centred around women/non-binary artists and their practices’ relationship to care, healing and spiritualism. In 2022 her book "Nonconformers: A New History of Self-Taught Artists" was published by Yale University Press and has received great accolades. It considers how predetermined personal/cultural conditions (race, poverty, disability, mental illness) often presented challenging positions much more complex than just being self-taught.
Sim Luttin
Jump Left | Art.Co.Lab
Sim is a Naarm, Melbourne-based creative professional with 25 years of experience as an artist, gallerist, curator, and arts leader. As the founder of Jump Left and a founding co-curator of Art et al., whilst at Arts Project Australia, Sim has dedicated her career to creating opportunities and promoting equity for diverse artists through inclusive collaborations. Her work, which has significantly impacted the visibility and representation of neurodiverse artists both in Australia and internationally, is driven by a passion for empowering artists to connect and thrive in the global art community.
Consultancy Group
Art et al. works with three UK creatives to provide consultancy on our projects, processes and access throughout the year. They are Sonia Boué, Billy Mann and Violet Lamnisos. Sonia Boué is a multiform artist. She is also a writer on autism and art, and a leading consultant for neurodiversity in the arts. She has a significant body of postmemory work and pioneers in neuro-inclusive practice-led research. Billy Mann has been at Submit to Love studios for nine years, following a brain injury that cut short his career as a magazine journalist. Violet Lamnisos attends Artbox London, where she loves creating across different art forms, enjoying the therapeutic benefits of art.
With thanks to Stacey Fish who was a member of the supported studio Artists First, for her support until early 2023. Also our gratitude to the Northcote Penguins, a group of emerging and mid-career artists from Arts Project Australia, who provided additional feedback for our first year of development (2020-2021).
Project Collaborators.
Art et al. work with arts professionals and creatives who self-identify in various ways, including neurotypical, neurodivergent, learning or intellectually disabled, as well as people who have not self-identified. Our collaborators provide essential feedback for the intercultural growth of the platform.
Katrina Schwarz
Curatorial advisor, international
Katrina is Curator: Special Projects at Whitechapel Gallery in London. Formerly, Curator of the 2022 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize at The Photographers’ Gallery, London; International Development Consultant, Europe, for the Australia Council for the Arts; Curator, Visual Arts, British Council and Editor of Art & Australia. Professional highlights include serving as Curator of the international touring exhibition ‘David Shrigley: Lose Your Mind’ and as Deputy Curator, ‘Sarah Lucas: I Scream Daddio’, British Pavilion, 2015 Venice Biennale. Katrina has delivered visual arts projects in more than 30 countries, edited publications for Artangel and Whitechapel Gallery, and her writing often focuses on the particularities of being an Australian out of Australia.
Liz Cox (mono design)
Branding & design
Liz created the logo and branding for Art et al., and designs all the printed and online publications that the initiative produces. Liz has been a practicing designer for over a decade with a depth of industry experience in graphic design and art direction both in Melbourne and internationally. While specialising in designing books and catalogues for exhibiting artists, producing advertising campaigns and marketing collateral within the arts sector, Liz’s expertise also crosses into branding, product design and environmental graphics, working in both the cultural and corporate fields. Alongside her design practice, she has taught graphic design and typography at Monash University. Liz has been the recipient of numerous Museums Australia Design Awards.
Original founding partner.
Arts Project Australia
Arts Project Australia is an internationally renowned social enterprise that supports artists with intellectual disabilities through its studio and gallery, promoting artists and advocating for their inclusion in contemporary art practice. As of August 2024, Arts Project Australia stepped back, and are now Art et al. project partners only.
