Countess.Report was founded in Naarm on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country. We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of this land and waterways, the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation, as well as their Elders, past and present.
We recognise and respect the deep and enduring spiritual connections and relationship Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have with the land, waterways, sea and sky, their country, community, and culture.
Furthermore, we acknowledge and pay our respects to Indigenous, First Nations people, and other Traditional Custodians of the many lands where Countess.Report works around the world. We acknowledge that the land we live, work, and play on, always was, and always will be, Aboriginal land. Sovereignty was never ceded.
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Join co-editors Miranda Samuels and Shevaun Wright who will present the methodologies and findings of the 2022 Countess Report for discussion
The 2022 Countess Report will be available for download here on 30th April 2024.
The 2022 Countess Report is here, our third comprehensive report on gender representation in the Australian art sector. Co-edited by Miranda Samuels and Shevaun Wright, the report continues Countess’s long standing inquiry into the structures and frameworks that govern artistic production and legitimation in the Australian contemporary art world, and has been expanded to include analysis of First Nations representation.
The report analyses gallery and museum exhibition data as well as data on artist education, prizes, funding, organisational governance, collection acquisitions, and commercial gallery representation from across Australia in the calendar year of 2022.
Data on approximately 22,000 artists across more than 450 galleries and arts institutions was manually counted and verified, while data on acquisitions and exhibitions was provided directly by state and territory galleries, allowing for closer scrutiny of asymmetry in acquisition methods, including the Cultural Gift Program. We looked at institutions of all sizes and budgets: artist run initiatives, contemporary art spaces, commercial galleries, public galleries, Aboriginal-owned art centres, university art museums, major museums, and state galleries
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Co-Editors Miranda Samuels and Shevaun Wright will present the methodologies and findings of the 2022 Countess Report
︎︎︎ ACCA, MELBOURNE 6PM THURSDAY 2ND MAY 2024
︎︎︎ ARTSPACE, Sydney 12PM SATURDAY 11TH MAY 2024
︎︎︎ ACCA, MELBOURNE 6PM THURSDAY 2ND MAY 2024
︎︎︎ ARTSPACE, Sydney 12PM SATURDAY 11TH MAY 2024
COUNTESS: Spoiling Illusions Since 2008 is a book about data - data which exposes the inequity of gender representation in the Australian visual arts sector and the history and impact of the CoUNTess data collection and analysis project. It is also a book about the lives of women artists, writers and academics navigating an asymmetrical art world, where the odds are statistically weighted against them.
CoUNTess is a uniquely Australian project which calls out gender inequity in the art world with biting humour backed by decades of data. Boldly and insightfully written by Melinda Rackham and Elvis Richardson, CoUNTess: Spoiling Illusions Since 2008 offers insights and actions for change. Statistical analysis combined with cultural and feminist theory chart how the education of artists, the role of galleries and museums, art prizes, magazines, curators, collectors and philanthropists contribute to an artworld where women miss out. From original cheeky anonymous CoUNTess Blog posts to today's collaborative Countess.Report collective interventions, this is vital reading.
Designed by Elliott Bryce Foulkes and Maria Smit.
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
This Project is supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.
Purchase Book ︎︎︎
LISTEN TO AUTHORS ON RADIO NATIONAL ABC ︎︎︎
REVIEW IN THE SATURDAY PAPER ︎︎︎
CoUNTess is a uniquely Australian project which calls out gender inequity in the art world with biting humour backed by decades of data. Boldly and insightfully written by Melinda Rackham and Elvis Richardson, CoUNTess: Spoiling Illusions Since 2008 offers insights and actions for change. Statistical analysis combined with cultural and feminist theory chart how the education of artists, the role of galleries and museums, art prizes, magazines, curators, collectors and philanthropists contribute to an artworld where women miss out. From original cheeky anonymous CoUNTess Blog posts to today's collaborative Countess.Report collective interventions, this is vital reading.
Designed by Elliott Bryce Foulkes and Maria Smit.
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
This Project is supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.
Purchase Book ︎︎︎
LISTEN TO AUTHORS ON RADIO NATIONAL ABC ︎︎︎
REVIEW IN THE SATURDAY PAPER ︎︎︎
Monday March 6 2023