Easton Dunne is an artist, artsworker and arts educator based in Central Queensland on Darumbal Country. Their work explores queer identity work and experiences in rural and regional contexts through an autobiographical lens.
Dunne’s major solo exhibition, Welcome to Paradise, was shown at Rockhampton Museum of Art in 2023 and is the inspiration behind the branding for Melt Open Festival 2024. Their solo exhibition, Main Drag, was shown at Metro Arts in Meanjin/Brisbane and First Draft in Sydney/Gadigal Land in 2023. During 2024 they were invited to exhibit in group shows at Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Melbourne Art Fair with First Draft, and Bundaberg Regional Gallery.
Dunne’s 2021 solo exhibition, Drawn Together, was shown at both the Queensland College of Art’s Project Gallery and GALA Gallery. Informed by Rural Queer Studies, the work deployed drawing and video to create autobiographical narratives that offered the artist’s perspective on life as a queer person in regional and rural Central Queensland. The exhibition aimed to facilitate dialogue and exchange between the artist and metropolitan audiences on how socio-cultural and geographical factors influence diversity in queer identity work and practices, elaborated upon in Dunne’s accompanying essay and an exhibition review by C O’Callaghan.
A digital adaptation of the work in Drawn Together was curated into OuterSpace ARI’s 2021 exhibition, Location, Location, Location, where the work was projected onto the facade of the Judith Wright Centre for Contemporary Art each night for two weeks. Other achievements include being selected as an illustrator for the State Library of Queensland’s First Five Forever: Stories for Little Queenslanders children’s book project in 2020; a solo exhibition at Rockhampton Art Gallery in 2019, House; and winning the 2019 Bayton Award for Central Queensland and the 2018 Queensland Regional Art Awards Holding Redlich Art For Life Award.
Dunne has exhibited nationally through selection for prizes including the Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award, Marie Ellis Drawing Award, and the Lyn McCrea Drawing Prize. Their work has been curated into exhibitions such as Utopia Tropicae: Spirit of The North at Perc Tucker Regional Gallery in 2018, and has been acquired by institutions such as Rockhampton Museum of Art, Queensland College of Art Print Collection, Gladstone Regional Art Gallery and Museum Collection and Central Queensland University Collection.
Dunne completed a Bachelor of Fine Art at Queensland College of Art in 2012 and a Postgraduate Diploma of Education at Queensland University of Technology in 2014. They are passionate about high quality arts and learning experiences for people in rural and regional areas and have worked as an arts worker in art galleries, a secondary visual art teacher, an artist-in-residence in kindergartens and schools, and facilitated workshops for learners of all ages around Queensland.
Image: Easton Dunnne with their solo exhibition Welcome to Paradise at Rockhampton Museum of Art in 2023. Credit: Obscura.
