• Transmogrification of a speculative creation, 2009, digital image.
    Transmogrification of a speculative creation, 2009, digital image.
  • When the wind blows through it, it makes no sound, 2009, digital image.
    When the wind blows through it, it makes no sound, 2009, digital image.
  • Dysplasian rites, 2009, digital image.
    Dysplasian rites, 2009, digital image.
  • Straddling the Abyss, 2010, digital image
    Straddling the Abyss, 2010, digital image
  • These things once belonged to the flesh, 2010, digital image
    These things once belonged to the flesh, 2010, digital image
  • Without the shame of disgrace, 2010, digital image.
    Without the shame of disgrace, 2010, digital image.
  • Virgin Portrait, 2010, digital image
    Virgin Portrait, 2010, digital image
  • Book Book on Bwaaark, 2010, digital image.
    Book Book on Bwaaark, 2010, digital image.
  • Crossing the rainbow bridge of a Newtonian universe, 2010, digital image
    Crossing the rainbow bridge of a Newtonian universe, 2010, digital image
  • The richest ornament
    The richest ornament
  • Objects of ascendance, 2010, installation with projected still, Light Relief exhibition, The Block,
    Objects of ascendance, 2010, installation with projected still, Light Relief exhibition, The Block,
  • Object of Ascendance, 2010, deer antler, sequins, feathers, googly eyes and tulle.
    Object of Ascendance, 2010, deer antler, sequins, feathers, googly eyes and tulle.
  • Object of Ascendance, 2010, deer antler, sequins, gems and crystals, fabric.
    Object of Ascendance, 2010, deer antler, sequins, gems and crystals, fabric.
  • The gallant heart that throbs beneath its sacred folds, 2010, installation of object and video
    The gallant heart that throbs beneath its sacred folds, 2010, installation of object and video
  • The gallant heart that throbs beneath its sacred folds, 2010, (video detail)
    The gallant heart that throbs beneath its sacred folds, 2010, (video detail)
  • Totems, 2008, Installation.
    Totems, 2008, Installation.
  • Totems (detail), 2008, Installation
    Totems (detail), 2008, Installation
  • Shriek to the echo (hood 1), 2011, digital image of handmade hood.
    Shriek to the echo (hood 1), 2011, digital image of handmade hood.
  • to the echo (hood 2), 2011, digital image of handmade hood
    to the echo (hood 2), 2011, digital image of handmade hood
  • Shriek to the echo (hood 3), 2011, digital image of handmade hood.
    Shriek to the echo (hood 3), 2011, digital image of handmade hood.

Michelle Knowles is a Brisbane based, emerging contemporary artist. Her practice explores notions such as the uncanny, the fetishisation of objects, performance and ritual, the otherworldly and imaginary spaces. A curiosity in belief systems and broader spirituality is the catalyst for experiments in both video and photographic works that utilise objects, including handmade artifacts, as tools for transformation. Michelle has a BFA (Visual Arts) with Honours from the Queensland University of Technology and has shown her work in Brisbane galleries such as The Block, Metro Arts and QUT Art Museum, and in artist run spaces such as Accidentally Annie Street Space and inbetweenspaces.

‘An interest in the psychology of religion and new age spirituality and the concepts of mortality, transformation and fetishisation that are part of their symbolic language has dominated my practice. Working across a broad range of mediums such as sculpture, assemblage, installation, photography, video and performance, I undertake a process of transforming banal primary materials into totemic and talismanic objects in order to speak to the uncanny, the absurd and the otherworldly. Through exploring concepts such as the fetishisation of objects, the activation and transformation of objects through performance and photography, and ideas relating to death and ornamentation, I am interested in how we try and rationalise the irrational and unknowable.’

Michelle Knowles CV
Email: michelle@sacredheartarts.com
Website: www.michelleknowles.com