I live and work on Whadjuk Noongar boodjar. I pay my respects to Elders past, present and future. Sovereignty was never ceded. Always was, always will be.
Biography
Makaela Rowe-Fox is an emerging interdisciplinary artist and writer based in Boorloo/Perth on Whadjuk Noongar land.
She is interested in experimental & radical arts praxes; moving across playwrighting, contemporary performance, photography, video art and sculpture.
From speculatively shutting down Perth’s electricity grid in her series Familiar to casually conjuring a giant squid in the foyer of a neoliberal office tower in her playwriting, Makaela explores resistance and human-animal alliance in response to the crises of the Anthropocene. Makaela imagines ecologically weird relationships with non-human living beings. Her practice draws together strands of anti-capitalist (bio-)witchcraft.
As an independent artist, Makaela has been engaged by Bus Projects (VIC), Perth Festival, Red Earth Arts Festival (REAF), The Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA), Cool Change Contemporary, Black Swan State Theatre Company, Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company, the Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP, NSW), WA Youth Theatre Company (WAYTco), and numerous independent collectives across Boorloo.
Awards include Amnesty International's Ambassador of Conscience Award (2019) - their most prestigious human rights award - for her leading role as a climate activist in the Fridays for Future movement and an Australian Dance Award for outstanding achievement in Youth Dance (Co3's Project Next, 2017).
Curriculum Vitae
for my full CV: please get in touch
Education
-- The University of Western Australia (2023), Fine Arts and English and Literary Studies
-- Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (2020), Propel Dance
-- Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company (2018-2021), Junior Sonneteers / Ngalaka Daa Ensemble
-- Co3 Australia (2015-2019), Co3 Youth Dance and Elite Training Squad
Awards
-- UWA Nomination for Hatched National Graduate Show (2023)
-- Amnesty International's Ambassador of Conscience Award (2019) for leading role as a climate activist in the Fridays for Future movement
-- Australian Dance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Youth Dance (2017) dancer in Co3's Project Next
Creative Works / Residencies
-- (upcoming) Actional Attempt presented by Cool Change x PS Art Space (2024) Exhibition and public program
-- Fresh Ink writer, co-presented by Black Swan State Theatre Company (WA) and the Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP, NSW) (2024) Year long writing initiative producing two works for performance with mentorship from Black Swan Literary Director Chris Isaacs
-- Democracy Repair Services by Noemie Huttner-Koros at The Blue Room Theatre (2023) Assistant Director, with Director Andrew Sutherland Winner of the 2023 Blue Room Award for Outstanding Writing or Dramaturgy Nominated for Outstanding Direction and Outstanding Ensemble Performance (Blue Room Awards)
-- FAM+2023 UWA Fine Arts Graduate Exhibition (2023) Familiar; installation with Hex #1 - #8 (photographic prints), Invocation (photographic print), Familiar #1 - #3 (photographic prints) and Terminal Substation Map (Targets) (laser etched acrylic)
-- Nerve Ending group show, Cullity Gallery (2023) with Cait Dowley, Lynn Dunnet, Lucy Hancock, Richard Jordan Familiar #1 - #3 (photographic prints)
-- Umbilical Creative Development at Johnny Ma Studios (2023) Director, with performer-collaborators Ella-Rose Trew, Sam Nerida, Victoire Hemedi and mentor Ionat Zurr
-- Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP) National Studio Residency (2023) developed play Jellyfish Business
-- Winter Collective '23 UWA School of Design, Cullity Gallery (2023) Ink Sex (one-channel multimedia animation) and Squid-Witch Machine (one-channel film)
-- Playwright of Squid in the Foyer (2023) presented by WA Youth Youth Company for 24 Hour Play Generator, directed by Alexa Taylor
-- Seven Sisters commissioned by Perth Festival and presented by WA Youth Theatre Company Perth Festival (2023), Red Earth Arts Festival (2023), writer collaborator and performer
-- Summer Exhibition '22 UWA School of Design, Cullity Gallery (2022) Naked and Invisible (one-channel mixed media animation)
-- Playwright of The Pelican, commissioned by WA Youth Theatre Company (2022) for 40 Hour Play Generator directed by Alexa Taylor and dramaturgy from Izzy McDonald
-- Winter Collective '22 UWA School of Design, Cullity Gallery (2022) building intra-2009 (two-channel mixed media film)
-- Summer Exhibition '21 UWA School of Design, Cullity Gallery (2021) IN THE MIDST OF CHAOS THERE WAS SHAPE (one-channel film, concrete sculpture)
-- December Project presented by the Art Gallery of Western Australia (2020) Choreographer and performer
-- Co-Work - Revolutionary Praxis* Radical Interdependence at Bus Projects (2020)
-- Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company Actor -- private and corporate events (2018)