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Bio

Donna Maree Robinson is an internationally exhibited Australian artist working across moving image, light, projection, public art, murals and site-responsive installation. Based in Queensland, her practice explores the meeting point of art, science and environmental awareness, often engaging directly with landscapes, ecosystems and the sensory experience of place.

 

Since completing her Master of Contemporary Art in 2009, Robinson has developed a diverse body of work spanning permanent public artworks, major festival projections, experimental films, illuminated installations and large-scale murals. Her works have been exhibited throughout Australia, New York and Iceland, where she undertook a transformative winter artist residency in 2013 that deepened her engagement with environmental change and atmospheric phenomena.

 

Robinson is known for her ability to merge digital media with poetic ecology, using light and projection to animate surfaces and amplify environmental narratives. Her practice often incorporates collaboration with scientists, environmental organisations and local communities, creating work that is both aesthetically resonant and grounded in ecological context.

 

With a strong presence across public art, galleries and festivals, Robinson continues to expand her interdisciplinary approach, creating immersive experiences that encourage audiences to reconnect with the living world through wonder, sensitivity and attentive perception.

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Education and Project History

Curriculum Vitae 
QUALIFICATIONS
2009 Master of Contemporary Arts, University of Tasmania - specialisation Photo media (HD)
2004 Certificate IV Visual Arts and Contemporary Craft, CQIT
2011 Certificate IV Training and Assessment, CQIT
 
PUBLIC ART COMMISSIONS PERMANENT
2023 Wild Mountain Home, Scenic Rim Youth Animations - BEAUDESERT: permanent projection
2023 Sum of Everything - Grasstree Beach: 4 Murals
2021 Dust & Sequins - Perry Brothers installation, BLACKALL: Permanent projection
2020 Belonging - 18 River Street, Mackay: Mural
2020 AScEnT - Pioneer State High School, Mackay: 3 murals
2018 Sugar Bowl - Sugar Bowl Skate Park, Mackay: 13 murals and basketball markings
2018 Tessellation - Facebook/Instagram mural Fifth Lane, Mackay City
2015 Shortlisted to concept design - Franklin Square, HOBART, TASMANIA 
2012 The Gathering and Presence - Jezzine Barracks/Kissing Point/Garabarra, TOWNSVILLE
2010 High Ground - 2D images Mackay Base Hospital Redevelopment
 
PUBLIC ART COMMISSIONS EPHEMERAL
2025 Spectral, Bunjil Place, MELBOURNE, VIC
2025 GLVES, music video installation background, Blak Day Out & BIGSOUND, BRISBANE, QLD
2025 Australian Wearable Arts Awards, runway installation - Cyndi Vogel designs, BRISBANE 

2025 Eternal, Bunjil Place,MELBOURNE, VIC
2021 - 2025  Immerse, Multiple Projections, Barrier Reef Festival, Airlie Beach, QLD
2017 - 2025 Daly Bay Illuminate, Botanic Gardens, Blue Water Quay & Queens Park, Mackay 
2023 My Home, Proserpine QLD
2022 Anthropocene, Airlie Beach Foreshore, Barrier Reef Festival, QLD
2021 Memories and Moments, Old Blackall Hospital, Blackall, QLD
2021 Koi, Blackall Cultural Hall, Blackall, QLD
2021 CQ Rescue Silver Jubilee Installation, CQ Rescue Mackay
2019 RISE - William Jolly Bridge Projection, BRISBANE, QLD
2019 Pledge to the Planet - 8 m long Whale Projection, Canelands Mackay
2019 CASA - Italian Festival, Wood Street, Mackay
2018 Mackay Letters - Bluewater Quay Mackay
2018 FALL - RADF Showcase MECC precinct Mackay
2017 ELTON JOHN - Projections and light installation, Mackay City Centre
2017 Phytonomy - Yarrabilba Artwork Commission CreativeMove, BRISBANE
2017 Owl Eyes - Happy Daze & Mushroom Valley Projections with fibre artist Kris Martin
2015 LXX - 70th Anniversary large-scale projections Rockhampton Little Theatre
2015 On the Fringe: Belonging - Community Art Project and projections Sarina Festival
2015 RISE - large-scale projection Pioneer Shire Building, Mackay QLD
2015 FlowMotion-ology - Boat Lantern projections, Mackay QLD
2015 SWOOP– Lorikeet Projection, Mackay UP Animating Spaces
2014 1900 - Hibernian Hall large-scale projection Animating Spaces, ROMA
2014 River Sessions - Large-scale tree projection Mackay
2013 Memory Paths III, Video Installation, Greenmount Homestead Mackay
2012 Memory Paths, Video Installation, MECC Mackay
2012 Memory Paths I & II, Video Installation, Artspace Mackay, River to Rock Pioneer Valley
 
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2020 Constellations, Gympie Regional Art Gallery, GYMPIE, QLD
2018 Synesthesia, digital projection and installation for Ne:Roi Ballet MECC Mackay QLD
2017 FALL, Water Screen Projection, Penny Royal, LAUNCESTON, TASMANIA
2014 Far Away Here, Artspace Mackay, QLD
2013 Reverse Polarity, Gúttó Gallery, Sauðárkrókur, ICELAND
2011 Drift, Coalface Art Gallery, Moranbah, QLD
2011 Synergy, Ferns Gallery, CQU Mackay, QLD
2010 Perspective (duo exhibition), Gargett Gallery and Studio, QLD
2010 Strata’s Edge, Seek Fine Art, Paddington, SYDNEY, NSW
2009 Strata’s Edge, Gallery 1/147 Adelaide Street, BRISBANE, QLD
2009 Creation and Re-creation, Lagoons Gallery, Mackay, QLD
 
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 Time of Our Lives, Artspace Mackay: Large Scale Projection
2023 Immersive Light, Pacific Lutheran College, SUNSHINE COAST, QLD
2022 Provoking Change -Anthropocene, Gallery 31, CQU Mackay, QLD
2021 (re)-action states of change, Jubilee Centre, MECC Precinct, Mackay
2020 Sugartime, Jubilee Center Mackay, QLD
2019 Unlikely Encounters - Visible Threads Crossroad Arts, Mackay, QLD 
2018 An Unlikely Tour, Crossroad Arts, Mackay QLD 
2017 Afterimage, Onespace Gallery, Highgate Hill, BRISBANE, QLD
2017 Refraction Fiji Greenhouse Exhibition, Mackay CQU Gallery
2016 LUMEN art prize shortlisted exhibition, LONDON, UK
2016 EMERGENCE Art-Science collaboration JCU TOWNSVILLE, CQU MACKAY, CAIRNS QLD 
2015 Planes of Reality - Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Art, BRISBANE, QLD
2014 DM ARI - Ryan Renshaw Gallery, BRISBANE, QLD
2014 Animating Spaces - ROMA, QLD
2014 Memory Paths, Winter Night Festival - MELBOURNE, VIC
2013 Reverse Polarity & The Weight of Mountains - Skagaströnd, ICELAND 
2013 The Essential Character of Queensland - QRAA touring exhibition of QLD
2012 Breath and Vestiges: Bob Campbell - Brunswick Street Gallery, Fitzroy MELBOURNE, VIC
2012 Breath - Screengrab New Media Awards, JCU TOWNSVILLE
2012 Connection, Queensland Regional Arts Award, Flying Arts Touring Exhibition of QLD
2012 Looking Forward, Looking Back 150 years of Mackay, Artspace Mackay QLD
2012 Memory Paths I & II , Artspace Mackay, QLD
2010 Out From Down Under & Beyond, Agora Gallery, Chelsea,  NEW YORK, NY
2010 Seek Fine Art Group Exhibition, Paddington, SYDNEY, NSW 
2010 Nostalgia Video, Home Project, Digital Odyssey with Craig Walsh, Mackay, QLD
 
RESIDENCIES
2020 Artist in Residence – Digital Nature Project, Sarina
2016 Kings Bridge Cottage Artist in Residence, Cataract Gorge, TASMANIA 
2013 Nes Listamiðstöð artist residency, Skagaströnd, ICELAND. November & December
2012 The Edge, Cultural Precinct, SOUTH BRISBANE, Australia. February
 
GRANTS AND AWARDS
2016 Finalist: Lumen Art Prize (London)
2016 Finalist: Contemporary Art Awards (Australia)
2016 RADF recipient: Kings Bridge Cottage Residency, Cataract Gorge, TASMANIA
2014 Finalist: Sunshine Coast Art Prize
2014 Winner:Australia Day Mackay: Arts and Culture Award
2013 Mackay RADF: New Work Nes Listamiðstöð Artist Residency, ICELAND
2012 Winner: Queensland Regional Art Awards, Digital Art Award, QLD
2012 Finalist: Screengrab International New Media Art Awards
2012 Regional Arts Fund: Memory Paths I, II & III
2011 Finalist: Queensland Regional Art Awards
2012 Touring exhibition – Connection, QRAA
2010 Mentorship with Craig Walsh, Digital Odyssey Project, Mackay, QLD
2009 Selected for Off the Wall: Sydney, NSW
 
PUBLISHED WRITING/MEDIA
2025 ABC Tropical North Interview - Yesterday-Today-Tommorrow Mural
2016 Daily Mercury - Capturing the wonder of science through art
2016 Real Time Arts – Australia’s critical guide to international contemporary arts
2014 Brisbane Art 2014 Sunshine Coast Art Prize
2014 Montage Graphix 2014 Brecknock Consulting
2012 Queensland Regional Art Awards
2012 Screengrab New Media Art Awards 2012
2014 ABC Tropical North radio interview - Iceland Residency, Artspace Mackay July 16 2014
2012 ABC Tropical North radio interview – Queensland Regional Art Awards, Oct 8
2012 Looking Forward, Looking Back 150 years of Mackay, Catalogue
2010 ABC Tropical North radio interview via phone from New York City, May 14 2010
2010 Australian Art Collector Issue # 51 January – March 2010
2010 art guide Australia, march/ april 2010
 
COLLECTIONS
Artspace, Mackay
Marcus Simpson – Head of Global Private Equity, QIC Brisbane
Dhana Merrit – Institute of Modern Art (IMA), Brisbane
Anna Thurgood – Director, Artspace Mackay
Julieanne Gilbert – Mackay Member for Parliament
Halldór Ólafsson - Chairman of NES and Managing Director of BioPol, Iceland
Private Collections (national and international)
 
ASSOCIATIONS
2016 – present Tutor Digital Media, Central Queensland University Mackay
2010 – present Flying Arts Alliance, Accredited Member and Tutor
2011 – 2019 Board Member: Artspace Mackay Art Advisory Committee
2013 – 2015 Mackay Creatives Management Committee
2009 – 2012 Board Member: RADF committee Mackay 

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