Tiyan Baker is an artist who works with installation, photography, video and sculpture. Her practice draws on historical research, language, digital processes and material play to trace unseen relationships between words, place and stories. Centring her Bidayǔh culture in her works, Baker is also interested in things she has unknowingly inherited. Living far from native lands, culture and family, in the midst of the (re)colonisation of Borneo, she explores all that can be mistranslated or lost, and what can manifest in its place. She has shown her works widely across Australia, and is the winner of the 2022 National Photography Prize awarded by the Murray Art Museum Albury.
She was born and raised on the Larrakia lands known as Darwin and currently lives and works on the Awabakal and Worimi lands known as Newcastle, Australia.
She was born and raised on the Larrakia lands known as Darwin and currently lives and works on the Awabakal and Worimi lands known as Newcastle, Australia.
o
2018
2016
2019
Solo Exhibitions:
2022My mother’s tongue, curated by Nella Themelios, Bus Projects, VIC
2018
Bliss Me, curated by Rebecca Holmes, Constance ARI, TAS
2016
One Million Views, curated by Jack Wansborough, Success, WA
Digital Commissions:
2020Tarun, Prototype, online
2019
Hard As You Can, Prototype, online
Collaborations:
2025Fall Damage, with Jason Phu, Goolagatup Heathcote, WA
2021
A Sunken Garden, with Lyndon Blue, Girls School Gallery, WA
2020
Panic Buy, with Guy Louden, Sawtooth ARI, TAS, online
Panic Buy, with Guy Louden, Girls School Gallery, WA
2017
Apocalypse Anonymous, with Loren Kronemyer, The Big Anxiety Festival 2017, NSW
2016
One Million Views, with Xanthe Dobbie, Next Wave Festival 2016, VIC
Selected Group Exhibitions:
2024Picturing the End, curated by Llewellyn Millhouse, Hervey Bay Regional Gallery, QLD
Lost & Found: Embodied Archive, curated by Joella Kiu, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
witness, collector, archivist, narrator, curated by Sydenham International, Canberra Contemporary Art Space Lakeside, Canberra Art Biennial, ACT
PHOTO:SYNTHESIS, curated by Alex Colley, Curl Curl Creative Space, NSW
2023
Primavera 2023: Young Australian Artists, curated by Talia Smith, Museum of Contemporary Art, NSW
Steamed Hams, curated by Chelsea Nichols, The Dowse Art Museum, Aotearoa
Now You’re Speakin’ My Language, curated by Kate Ten Buuren, IMA X Nowness Asia, online
2022
DALAM, curated by Catriona Maddocks, HAUS Kuching, Malaysia
We Have Never Been Modern, curated by Robert McDougall, Centre of Contemporary Art, Georgia
Play Ground, curated by Holly Farrell, The Lock Up, NSW
Stray Voltage, curated by Rebecca McCauley, Kings ARI, VIC
Personal Mythologies, curated by Sophia Cai, La Trobe Art Institute, VIC
Epistolaristics, curated by Alfonse Chiu, GMBB, Malaysia
a park is not a forest, curated by Salote Tawale, Sydney College of the Arts Galleries, NSW
Library of Watery Tales, curated by Lleah Smith, Biennale of Sydney, NSW
2021
Makeshift, curated by Taylor Mitchell, RMIT University, VIC
No Show, curated by Lauren Carroll Harris, Carriageworks, NSW
2020
20:20, curated by Michael Moran, Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA), NSW
NSW Visual Arts (Emerging) Fellowship, curated by Alexie Glass-Kantor, Artspace, NSW
Preppers, online
2019
Preppers, Fremantle Arts Centre, WA
The Freedman Foundation Exhibition, curated by Isabella Cornell, UNSW Galleries, NSW
2017
Almost Doco, curated by Lauren Carroll Harris, RealTime Video Gallery, online
Prizes and grants:
2022Winner, National Photography Prize, NSW
2021
Finalist, The Churchie National Emerging Art Prize, QLD
2020
Recipient, Australia Council, Arts Projects for Individuals and Groups
Finalist, Fisher's Ghost Art Award, NSW
Finalist, NSW Visual Arts (Emerging) Fellowship
Finalist, Goolugatup Heathcote Digital Art Prize, WA
Recipient, Create NSW Small Projects Grants (Quick Response)
2019
Recipient, The Freedman Foundation Travelling Scholarship, NSW
2018
Finalist, The 65th Blake Prize, NSW
2014
Winner, Macquarie Digital Portraiture Award, ACT
Tours:
Bamboo Paradise, as part of the group show Preppers, supported by Art on the Move, toured at:2021
Museum of the Goldfields, WA
Albany Town Hall, WA
The Cannery Arts Centre, WA
2020
Geraldton Regional Art Gallery, WA
Katanning Art Gallery, WA
Personal Computer : ramin ntaangan, as part of the group show Primavera 2023: Young Australian Artists, will tour at:
2024
The Condensery, QLD
Noosa Regional Gallery, QLD
Cowra Regional Gallery, NSW
2025
Goulburn Regional Art Gallery, NSW
Bank Art Museum Moree, NSW
Blue Mountains Cultural Centre, NSW
Wangatta Art Gallery, VIC
Latrobe Regional Gallery, VIC
2026
Murray Bridge Regional Gallery, SA
Collections:
2022
Murray Art Museum Albury
Artbank
Screenings and Events:
2025Reel Good Film Festival, VIC
2024
Now You’re Speakin’ My Language, curated by Kate Ten Buuren, Federation Square public screen, VIC
2023
Soft Country, curated by Alfonse Chiu, LOOP Festival, Spain
Home/Land: Imágenes en movimento recientes del Sudeste Asiático, curated by Alfonse Chiu, Swab Barcelona Art Fair, Zumzeig Cinecooperativa, Spain
Where is the body? What is the venue?, curated by Matt Cornell, Outlines, Sydney Opera House, NSW
2022
Portrait of a Place, curated by Lauren Carroll Harris, Kings ARI, VIC
Composite x SEVENTH, Composite Moving Image Agency & Media Bank, VIC
The Discomfort of Everything, curated by Diego Ramirez and Taylor Mitchell, Dogmilk Films, Miscellania, VIC
Powerhouse Late, curated by Kerinne Jenkins, Powerhouse Museum, NSW
Australian Next Wave, curated by Lauren Carroll Harris, 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, QAGOMA, QLD
2021
Relay, curated by Fiction Feeling Frame, Venice Biennale of Architecture, online
Crisis Actor, curated by Ian Sinclair and Tait de Lorenzo, PACT Centre for Emerging Artists, NSW
2020
Hyperlinks URL, Static Vision, online
Lockdown: An Interactive Livestream, Static Vision, online
Hyperlinks, Static Vision, NSW
2019
Biting Morsel, curated by Tulleah Pearce, Verge Gallery, NSW
2017
Adhocracy 2017, Vitalstatistix, SA
Selected Residencies and Activities:
2025Residency, DESA, Indonesia
2024
Residency, All School Exchange, Wet Seasoning, Next Wave, VIC
2023
Residency, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA) Interdisciplinary Lab, Garambi Baan, VIC + online
Residency, The Metabolic Sublime, Medialab Matadero Lab#02, Spain
2021
SEM/ALAM Art Lab, Centre for Urban Mythologies + Gerimis Art Project Malaysia, online
disorganising, Bus Projects + West Space + Liquid Architecture, VIC
2019
Residency, Chronus Art Centre, on invitation from Pony Express, China
2017
Residency, Frontyard Projects, NSW
2016
Residency, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, WA
2014
Residency, Red Gate Gallery, China
Education:
2023Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours), University of Sydney, graduated with Honours
2012
Bachelor of Fine Arts/Bachelor of Arts, UNSW
2010
Digital Media Studies, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China (exchange program)
2009
Porosity Studio, Donghua University, Shanghai, China (exchange program)
Selected Bibliography:
2025Art Review January and February 2025. Future Greats. Adeline Chia.
2024
Vogue Australia January 2024. Vogue Vanguard. Gladys Lai and Hannah Rose-Yee.
Art Guide Australia, Issue 147, January-February 2024. 10 artists to watch in 2024. Nanette Orly and Tiarney Miekus.
2023
Art Almanac. Primavera 2023: Young Australian Artists.
Emma-Kate Wilson.
Memo Review. Primavera 2023: Young Australian Artists. Mariam Ella Arcilla.
Ocula Magazine. For Primavera, Emerging Australian Artists Propose New Paths. Susan Acret.
Ocula Magazine. Which Young Artists Were Chosen for MCA’s ‘Primavera 2023’? Michael Irwin.
Un Magazine, 17.1 - Resist. 我們現在是對著鏡子觀看，模糊不清，到那時就要面對面了: The Unexceptional Otherness of a Second Language. Megan Tan.
Art Collector Jan - March 2023. Cool Hunter Predictions. Sebastian Henry-Jones.
2022
Wonderground, Issue Four, Family / Tree. Root and Branch. Neha Kale.
2021
ArtsHub. Exhibition review: The Churchie Emerging Art Prize. Pamela See.
The Review Board. ‘the churchie’ emerging art prize 2021. Madeline Brewer.
Carriageworks Journal. Radical Ecologies. Phoebe Chen.
2020
ArtsHub. Exhibition Review: 2020 NSW Visual Arts Emerging Fellowship, Artspace. Gina Fairley.
Ocula Magazine. Rethinking Care for the 2020 NSW Visual Arts Emerging Fellowship. Elyse Goldfinch and Alexie Glass-Kantor.
Gertrude Contemporary Online. Gertrude Emerging Writers Program. Kissing at the Intersection. Olivia Bennett.
Art Guide. Tiyan Baker and Guy Louden on the cold poetics of the pandemic. Barnaby Smith.
Liminal Magazine. 5 Questions with Tiyan Baker.
Semaphore. I Feel A Song Coming On. Ben Rodin.
2019
The Conversation. Prototype review: experimental Australian films as poetic diary entries. Stuart Richards.
ARC UNSW. Artist of the Week. Shelley Wang.
2014
ABC Radio Darwin. Digital artist Tiyan Melissa Kilie Baker's portraits depict memories of love and loss in Beijing. James Purtill.
ArtsHub. Identities in digital: Macquarie Digital Portraiture Award. Jane Somerville.
ABC News. Lonely landscapes of love: digital portraiture award goes to young Northern Territory artist. Siobhan Heanue.
I live and work on the lands of the Awabakal and Worimi people.
This sovereign land was never ceded.
The land I live on always was and always will be Aboriginal land.