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Draft:Myles Russell-Cook

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Myles Zachary Russell-Cook is an Australian curator, writer, and lecturer specialising in contemporary art. Born in 1988 in Melbourne, he has a diverse heritage that includes Anglo-Australian and German ancestry from his paternal side, as well as connections to transported convicts on both his maternal and paternal sides. He also has Aboriginal ancestry linked to western Victoria, with ties to Tasmania and the Bass Strait islands through his maternal grandfather.

Russell-Cook has curated a wide range of exhibitions and projects, focusing primarily on representing cultural, gender, and sexual diversity in both Australian and international contemporary art.

He is currently the Artistic Director and CEO of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art in Melbourne, Australia.[1].

Career

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From 2013–2015 Russell-Cook worked as a lecturer in Design Anthropology at Swinburne University. Following this, he was Collections Manager, and Assistant Curator at Museums Victoria, where he worked primarily on the Donald Thompson collection.

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In 2016, Russell-Cook was appointed as Curator, Indigenous Art, at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), where he was involved with major exhibitions such as Past Legacy: Present Tense (2017)[2], NGV Triennial (2017)[3], Colony: Australia 1770 – 1861/ Colony: Frontier Wars (2018)[4], From Bark to Neon (2019)[5], DESTINY (2020) [6]and NGV Triennial (2020)[7].

In 2021, he took on the role of Senior Curator, Australian and First Nations Art[8]. Exhibitions include Maree Clarke: Ancestral Memories (2021)[9], Found and Gathered: Rosalie Gascoigne I Lorraine Connelly-Northey (2021)[10], Bark Ladies: Eleven artists from Yirrkala (2021)[11], Queer: Stories from the NGV (2022)[12], Wurrdha Marra (2023)[13], NGV Triennial (2023)[14], and REKOSPECTIVE: The Art of Reko Rennie (2024)[15]

While working at the NGV, Russell-Cook presented a number of exhibitions internationally, most notably with the Australian Embassy in Paris, including: DESTIN: l’art de Destiny Deacon (2022), Rituel et Cérémonie: extrait de Mémoires ancestral (2022), Blak Rainbow: L’Art de Dylan Mooney (2023) and La terre est bleue: l’art de Dhambit Munuggurr (2024).

He is also the lead curator of the touring exhibition The Stars We Do Not See (2025)[16], presented in partnership with the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. Russell-Cook curated this exhibition with the support of NGV co-ordinating curators Michael Gentle, Sophie Gerhard, and Sophie Prince. Set to open in October 2025, this exhibition marks the largest presentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art ever staged internationally[17]. The exhibition will also travel to Denver Art Museum, Colorado (April 19–July 26, 2026), Portland Art Museum, Oregon (September 5, 2026–January 3, 2027), Peabody Essex Museum, Massachusetts (February 28–June 13, 2027), and Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto (July 31, 2027–January 9, 2028).

Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA): 2024 - current

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In November 2024, Russell-Cook was appointed as the new Artistic Director and CEO of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, taking over from Max Delany.[18]

In June 2025, he announced ACCA's latest Artistic Forward Program, Spring 2025 – Winter 2027[19], which includes a number of new exhibitions and commissions from artists such as Tschabalala Self, r e a, Tourmaline, Julius von Bismarck, Kent Monkman, Zaachariaha Fielding, Dhambit Munungurr, Polly Borland, Callum McGrath, Kayla Mattes, Lucy Liu, Martine Syms, Patrick Pound, Jemima Wyman, and Yoko Ono.

Selected publications

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The Stars We Do Not See: Australian Indigenous Art (book), October 7 2024, National Gallery of Victoria.[20]

Sacred geometry: The art and life of Reko Rennie, October 7 2024, National Gallery of Victoria.[21]

Nature and the Machine: Art Journal edition 58 (edited by Angela Hesson and Myles Russell-Cook), May 2024, National Gallery of Victoria.[22]

Infinite Woven Symphony December 2 2023, National Gallery of Victoria.[23]

QUEER: Art Journal edition 58 (edited by Angela Hesson and Myles Russell-Cook), March 16 2023, National Gallery of Victoria.[24]

Bark Ladies: Eleven artists from Yirrkala, December 2021, National Gallery of Victoria.[25]

Found and Gathered: Rosalie Gascoigne I Lorraine Connelly-Northey (with Beckett Rozentals), Novevmber 2021, NGV Magazine Issue 29 National Gallery of Victoria.[26]

Maree Clarke: Ancestral Memories (book), June 24 2021, National Gallery of Victoria.[27]

Painting blue: the art of Dhambit Munuŋggurr, December 2020, Triennial 2 National Gallery of Victoria.[28]

DESTINY: the art of Destiny Deacon (book), March 2020, National Gallery of Victoria.[29]

She Persists: Perspectives on Women in Art and Design (book), February 2020, National Gallery of Victoria.[30]

Magic: Art Journal edition 57 (edited by Angela Hesson and Myles Russell-Cook), May 2020, National Gallery of Victoria.[31]

Once Known, March 2018, Colony: Australia 1770-1861/Frontier Wars, National Gallery of Victoria.[32]

Percy Leason and the Last Victorian Aborigines: A Legacy of Extinction, June 2017, Brave New World, National Gallery of Victoria (republished on The Conversation).[33]

The use and re-use of rock art designs in contemporary jewellery and wearable art (with Lynette Russell), June 2017, Oxford Handbook of Rock Art Oxford University Press.[34]

Museums are returning Indigenous human remains but progress on repatriating objects is slow (with Lynette Russell), December 1 2016, The Conversation.[35]

Savages, barely even human: Native American representations in Disney From Peter Pan to Pocahontas, 2016, The Disney Dialogues Oxford Anthology.[36]

References

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  1. ^ "People". ACCA. Retrieved 2025-07-31.
  2. ^ "Past Legacy: Present Tense | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 2025-07-31.
  3. ^ "Alexandra Kehayoglou: NGV Triennial 2017 | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 2025-07-31.
  4. ^ "Colony: Frontier Wars | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 2025-07-31.
  5. ^ "From Bark to Neon: Indigenous Art from the NGV Collection | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 2025-07-31.
  6. ^ "DESTINY | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 2025-07-31.
  7. ^ "NGV Triennial 2020 | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 2025-07-31.
  8. ^ Cross, Jarred (2023-10-12). "National Gallery of Victoria welcomes new dedicated First Nations floor". National Indigenous Times. Retrieved 2025-07-31.
  9. ^ "Maree Clarke: Ancestral Memories | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 2025-07-31.
  10. ^ "Found and Gathered: Rosalie Gascoigne | Lorraine Connelly-Northey | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 2025-07-31.
  11. ^ "Bark Ladies: Eleven Artists from Yirrkala | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 2025-07-31.
  12. ^ "QUEER: Stories from the NGV Collection | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 2025-07-31.
  13. ^ "Wurrdha Marra | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 2025-07-31.
  14. ^ "Home | Triennial | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 2025-07-31.
  15. ^ "REKOSPECTIVE: The Art of Reko Rennie | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 2025-07-31.
  16. ^ "The Stars We Do Not See: Australian Indigenous Art | National Gallery of Art". www.nga.gov. 2025-10-18. Retrieved 2025-07-31.
  17. ^ "'Deeply beautiful and unique': Gallery brings largest-ever exhibition of Indigenous art to global stage". ABC News. 2024-09-19. Retrieved 2025-07-31.
  18. ^ "Myles Russell-Cook appointed Artistic Director & CEO of ACCA". ACCA. Retrieved 2025-07-31.
  19. ^ "ACCA reveals two years' worth of programming in ambitious move". 2025-07-09. Retrieved 2025-07-31.
  20. ^ "The Stars We Do Not See: Australian Indigenous Art | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 2025-08-07.
  21. ^ "Sacred geometry: The art and life of Reko Rennie | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 2025-08-07.
  22. ^ "Edition 58 | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 2025-08-07.
  23. ^ "Infinite woven symphony | Triennial | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 2025-08-07.
  24. ^ "Edition 58 | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 2025-08-07.
  25. ^ "Bark Ladies: Eleven Artists from Yirrkala | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 2025-08-07.
  26. ^ "Found and Gathered | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 2025-08-07.
  27. ^ "Maree Clarke: Ancestral Memories | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 2025-08-07.
  28. ^ "The Earth is Blue: The Art of Dhambit Munuŋgurr | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 2025-08-07.
  29. ^ "DESTINY: the art of Destiny Deacon | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 2025-08-07.
  30. ^ "She Persists: Perspectives on Women in Art & Design". NGV design store. Retrieved 2025-08-07.
  31. ^ "Edition 57 | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 2025-08-07.
  32. ^ "Colony: Australia 1770–1861 / Frontier Wars". NGV design store. Retrieved 2025-08-07.
  33. ^ Cook, Myles Russell (2017-07-13). "Friday essay: painting 'The Last Victorian Aborigines'". The Conversation. Retrieved 2025-08-07.
  34. ^ Russell, Lynette; Russell-Cook, Myles (2019-01-03), David, Bruno; McNiven, Ian J. (eds.), "The Use and Reuse of Rock Art Designs in Contemporary Jewellery and Wearable Art", The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and Anthropology of Rock Art, Oxford University Press, p. 0, doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190607357.013.40, ISBN 978-0-19-060735-7, retrieved 2025-08-07
  35. ^ Russell, Lynette; Cook, Myles Russell (2016-12-01). "Museums are returning indigenous human remains but progress on repatriating objects is slow". The Conversation. Retrieved 2025-08-07.
  36. ^ Brode, Douglas; T. Brode, Shea, eds. (2016). Debating Disney: Pedagogical Perspectives on Commercial Cinema (1 ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. doi:10.5040/9798881815141.ch-009. ISBN 979-8-8818-1514-1.