Bachelor of Art and Design (Honours) Contemporary Art

Dr Doreen Donovan
Program Director | Bachelor of Art and Design (Honours)
UniSA Creative

The 2021 contemporary art students graduating with a Bachelor of Art and Design (Honours) featured in this online catalogue have successfully synthesized their three years of undergraduate studies with advanced understandings of critical thinking and research skills, framed around their practice. The range of disciplinary foci displayed through their creative artefacts and exegeses highlight unique, original and contemporary perspectives as they examine, analyse and creatively interpret the social, cultural and environmental complexities of 2021.

In viewing and reflecting on their artefacts, it needs to be considered that ‘an expansive concept of contemporaneity is crucial to grasping what it is to live in the world today, and to make art within this world’ (Smith, 2019, Introduction). Through their creative research practice, this cohort of contemporary art (Honours) students demonstrates that, as Smith aptly proposes ‘We are inside what it means to be contemporary, where art is the art of our contemporary condition’ (2019, Introduction).

The 2021 emerging contemporary art practitioners featured here have advanced their research and studio skills within—and in response to—ever-changing global circumstances. Through their research practice they demonstrate resilience, commitment and determination to complete what is an intense program of study. They are positioned to take on leadership roles in their discipline through their practice-led and practice-based research and, thereby, contribute to strengthening the cultural and social significance of the creative arts on thriving and diverse societies.

I sincerely congratulate the 2021 contemporary art Bachelor of Art and Design (Honours) cohort on their achievements to date. In wishing them all the best, I look forward to hearing about their successes, professional trajectories, further research and their future contributions to their discipline and broader creative sector locally, nationally and internationally.

Smith, T 2019, Art to Come: Histories of Contemporary Art, Duke University Press

Exhibited Works
MMXXI Exhibition

Bachelor of Contemporary Art