Susan Gourley is a white woman born on the unceded lands of Gunditjmara Country, part of the Eastern Maar Nation, in Southwest Victoria, Australia. Her practice is grounded in a deep respect for nature and a sensitivity to the complexities of the human condition. An interdisciplinary artist, her work reflects on inherited histories and their continuing legacies, exploring how cultural narratives shape ways of seeing, knowing, and belonging in a nuanced, interconnected world.
The process of making becomes an act of attentive re-examination—an opportunity to question, interrogate, and reframe ideologies and assumptions embedded within her own Euro-centric identity. This inquiry is driven by curiosity rather than certainty, and by a desire to imagine more expansive, inclusive ways of understanding and moving through the world.
Ecology, ecofeminism, cross-cultural exchange, and the regenerative qualities of discarded materials are recurring threads throughout Susan’s work. Collectively, these themes gesture toward an orientation grounded in ethics and material transformation.
Susan is the recipient of a Griffith University Postgraduate Research Scholarship and graduated with a Doctor of Visual Arts in 2019.