Alison Page: Creative Shape Shifter Exhibition Opening

The event will open with a smoking ceremony and Welcome to Country, followed by speeches from Marcia Langton, Alison Page and Alan Pert.

Alison Page is a Dharawal and Yuin designer, artist and cultural leader. In her first solo exhibition, Page dives into the ancient and contemporary stories that drive her design process. One of the first Indigenous designers to break into the scene in Sydney in the 90s, her designs have always contributed to a life force that she believes is vital for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to connect to Country.

From her experiences with the Merrima Aboriginal Design Unit, to establishing the National Aboriginal Design Agency (NADA), Page has always been motivated by a strong entrepreneurial vision and by the ways in which design can shape social and environmental justice for Aboriginal people. From a career that started with a focus on defining ‘what is Aboriginal design’, this exhibition traces her development of a practice that explores how BLAK design can inform and enrich everyday Australian life.

Discover her pioneering design through diverse objects, images and films, encompassing interiors, landscapes, public art, furniture, jewellery to coffee makers and a kettle.

Exhibition curated by Alison Page and A/Prof Jillian Walliss.

Acknowledgements

This exhibition takes place on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Bunurong peoples. We pay respect to Elders past, present and future, and acknowledge the importance of Indigenous knowledge in the Academy.

This exhibition has been made possible through the generous support of ClarkeHopkinsClarke Architects, Tilt Iandustrial Design, and Breville. We gratefully acknowledge their ongoing commitment to design, innovation, and creative practice.

Alison is the 2026 Robert Garland Treseder Fellow at the Faculty of Architecture, Building, and Planning, University of Melbourne. This Fellowship enables artists, business innovators, designers, policy leaders, start-ups, architects, and scholars dedicated to the development and promotion of design-based innovation to visit Melbourne. We are grateful for the generous ongoing support of the Robert Garland Treseder Fellowship.

This exhibition is part of Melbourne Design Week.

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Host or Publisher Melbourne School of Design