Lives and works in Regional NSW.
Nicole Welch’s in-situ LAND & BODY works explore personal, cultural and environmental histories, echoing the symbiotic relationship we have with an enduring natural world, and our ephemeral place within it. They are physical, personal and local, while simultaneously archetypal and universal. An illuminated dark wildness in the imagery echoes hidden undercurrents and tensions: pushing boundaries between reality and illusion, while reaching for resolution through an exploration of landscape and body.
Welch’s process involves traversing through areas of bushland, where she locates significant locations to create her compositions using large-scale projectors, generators, research-inspired objects and in camera technologies. Recorded on location these installations result in incongruous photographic and moving image works that record at once both past and present ideologies.
Welch has been invited to show in numerous exhibitions nationally and most recently internationally. In 2019 Welch’s film Wildēornes Body was selected for the 5th International Motion Festival Cyprus. In 2018 she was a featured artist for ArtState NSW, making two new works, Transformation and Mementos.
Solo exhibitions include MAY SPACE/Brenda May Gallery (2018, 2017, 2015, 2014, 2013), Blue Mountains Cultural Centre (2017), Murray Art Museum Albury (2015), Bathurst Regional Art Gallery (2016, 2012, 2007), Glasshouse Port Macquarie (2018), the University of Wollongong (2008) and the Canberra School of Art (1998). Welch has invited to participate in numerous curated exhibitions nationally and has been a finalist in many awards and prizes including the Blake Prize, the Grace Cossington Smith Art Award (2018) and the National Photography Prize (2016).
Welch’s exhibition Apparitions (2014) progressed her conceptual and technical ideas exceptionally, seeing works enter the collections of Artbank, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery and a major corporate collection. Welch’s works are also in the collections of Art Gallery of Ballarat, Blue Mountains Cultural Centre, Murray Art Museum Albury, Parliament House Art Collection Canberra, Macquarie Group, Canberra School of Art (ANU), Harris Farm Market’s Collection and the National Library of Australia, among others.
As Welch creates location inspired work, it lends itself to immersive residencies and site-related projects. This has led to her completing residencies at The CORRIDOR Project (2020), the Bilpin international ground for Creative initiatives (2016) and Hill End (2014, 2010) as well as multiple commissions, including a large-scale piece for the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre (2013). Welch has also won the Windmill Trust Scholarship (2011), the Harris Farm Markets Acquisitive Art Award (2010), the Studio One Residency Award (1998), the Megalo Access Residency Award (1998) and the Chamberlains Law Firm Acquisition Award (1998).
Welch’s future project AS ABOVE SO BELOW has been generously supported by both the Regional Arts Fund – Regional Arts NSW and NAVA Artists’ Grant. This new series will be exhibited at the newly build Orange Regional Gallery in 2022.
