Jahkarli Felicitas Romanis is a proud Pitta Pitta woman and emerging artist based on Kulin Land.

After completing an Honours in Photography degree at RMIT in 2020, she commenced a PhD at Monash University in 2021 through the Wominjeka Djeembana Indigenous Research Lab. 

Jahkarli’s practice aims to subvert and disrupt colonial ways of thinking and image making. She utilises her research and artwork as tools for investigating biases encoded within imaging technologies. Jahkarli’s work heavily reflects on her family stories, oral histories and archives.  

Education:

PhD (Fine Art), Wominjeka Djeembana Research Lab, Monash University | Jul 2021 - Present

Honours (Photography), RMIT University | Feb 2020 - Nov 2020

Bachelor of Arts (Photography), RMIT University | Feb 2017 - Nov 2019


Exhibitions (Solo Shows): 

‘(Dis)connected to Country’ Hillvale Gallery, as part of PHOTO2024, Melbourne | Mar 2024

‘(Dis)connected to Country’ The Museum of Australian Photography (MAPh), Melbourne | Jul - Sep 2023


Exhibitions (Group Shows): 

‘YARN’ Craft Victoria, Melbourne (*curated) | Jul - Sep 2023

‘INTERVALS’ Platform Arts, Geelong | Sep - Oct 2022

‘Into the Everywhen’ Craft Victoria, Melbourne | Jul - Sep 2022

‘Barreeng Yirramboi’ MADA Gallery (artist and co-curated), Monash University Melbourne | Jul 2022

‘Aeon Resurrection’ Incinerator Gallery, Moonee Ponds | Apr-May 2022 

‘New Photographers’ PHOTO2022 International Photography Festival, James Makin Gallery, Collingwood | Apr-May 2022 

‘Still Here, Now’ Platform Arts, Geelong (artist and co-curated) | Jan 2022

Ars Electronica International Arts and Technology Festival, Web XR, extended reality I Sep 2020

‘Summer Projects VII’ Boom Gallery Geelong I Jan 2020 - Feb 2020

‘What have you got to lose? (Vulnerability and the threat of extinction)’ Rachinger Gallery Geelong I March 2020

Graduate exhibition ‘Sightings and Listenings’ RMIT University I Dec 2019

Robyn Beeche Show ‘Tangential Visions’ RMIT University I Aug 2019

‘Creative Womxn’ RMIT University I Aug 2019


Awards:

National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (Telstra NATSIAA): Finalist | 2023

Baillot and Balfour Endowment: Winner of the Baillot and Balfour Endowment | Dec 2019

Robyn Beeche Award: Finalist of the Robyn Beeche Award | Aug 2019


Work Experience:

Board Member, Melbourne Art Library | March 2024 - Present

Artist Committee Member, West Space Gallery | Mar 2023 - Present

Research Assistant, Monash University, Australian Research Council funded project ‘Protocols for Indigenous - led creative practice’ | Jan 2022 - Present

Marrawuddi Arts and Culture Volunteer, Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair | Aug 2022

Research Assistant, Monash University, Wominjeka Djeembana Research Lab | May 2021 - Jan 2022

Producer, Ngarnga-dha (hearing/listening), Research Symposium, Monash University | Dec 1 - 2 2021

Sessional Lecturer, Monash University |July 2021 - Nov 2021

Research Assistant, Monash University, ‘Tjanabi’ RISING Festival | May 2021 - June 2021

Workshop facilitator, SIGNAL X This Mob X Aretha Brown | April 2021

First Nations Emerging Curator, Geelong Gallery | Feb 2021 - Aug 2021

Magnum Student Intensive, PHOTO2021 festival, Melbourne | Feb - Mar 2021


Writing:

Google Earth is an illusion: how I am using art to explore the problematic nature of western maps and the myth of ‘terra nullius,’  The Conversation, | Oct 2022. https://theconversation.com/google-earth-is-an-illusion-how-i-am-using-art-to-explore-the-problematic-nature-of-western-maps-and-the-myth-of-terra-nullius-187921


Select Artist Talks/Guest Lectures:

UNTOLD Darwin, Agency Projects | Aug 2023

Art Forum Talks, Victorian College of the Arts | Aug 2023

Next Wave panelist, Radical Hospitality: Platforming Community | Oct 2022

‘Making the Visible Invisible’ Form X Content in conversation with Mark Andrejevic and Mishka Henner,  PHOTO2022, Monash University | May 2022 (video can be viewed here: https://www.monash.edu/muma/public-programs/current/current/form-x-content/semester-1/making-the-visible-invisible)

Reading Group Facilitator, Platform Arts ‘In Plato’s Cave from ‘On Photography’ - Susan Sontag | Feb 2022

Ars Electronica International Arts Festival | Sep 2020 (view in Mozilla Hubs here: https://ars.electronica.art/keplersgardens/en/ecosystem-reboot/)


Residencies:

PARADISE AIR, Matsudo Japan | Jan - Feb 2024

Melbourne Art Library, Melbourne | Jan 2022 - Mar 2022 (outcome video can be viewed here:  https://vimeo.com/704010700)


Conferences/symposiums:

The Art Association of Australia and New Zealand (AAANZ) Conference, Agency, Country and Place: encounters with photography | Dec 2022

Barreeng Yirramboi, Research Symposium and Exhibition, Monash Art Design and Architecture Faculty, Monash Univeristy | Jul 2022

Conversations with...Extractivism Symposium, Monash Art Design and Architecture Faculty, Monash University | Jul 2022

Ngarnga-dha (hearing/listening), Research Symposium, Monash University | Dec 1 - 2 2021


Interviews/References of Work:

ArtsHub Article, written by Christy Tan, Feb 2024: https://www.artshub.com.au/news/features/disconnected-to-country-mapping-the-intersections-of-place-identity-and-family-2699519/

Triple R Radio Interview, YARN, Jul 2023: https://www.rrr.org.au/on-demand/segments/banksia-jahkarli-felicitas-romanis-discusses-exhibition-yarn

NITV Radio Interview, NATSIAA’s 2023, Jul 2023: https://www.sbs.com.au/language/nitv-radio/en/podcast-episode/dear-dolly-with-love-2023-reveals-the-bittersweet-power-of-colonial-archives-for-first-nations-people/in3hxg4rg

‘Monash University students impress at PHOTO 2022 New Photographers exhibition’ MADA interview, June 2022: https://www.monash.edu/mada/news/2022/monash-university-students-impress-at-photo-2022-new-photographers-exhibition

‘PHOTO 2022: what it means being human’ RMIT Alumni Interview, May 2022: https://www.rmit.edu.au/news/all-news/2022/may/photo-2022-rmit-alumni

‘New Photographers’ interview, PHOTO2022 International Photography Festival, Mar 2022: https://photo.org.au/channel/qa-jahkarli-romanis

Magnum for PHOTO2021 International Photography Festival, Sep 2021: https://www.magnumphotos.com/arts-culture/new-photography-melbourne-beyond/











Contact: jucromanis@gmail.com