Rose Nolan: The Art of Slowing Down and the Power of Presence
A new exhibition at TarraWarra Museum of Art showcases the immersive, labor-intensive work of Melbourne-based artist rose Nolan, whose decades-long practice invites viewers to reconnect with time and materiality.
For over 40 years, Rose nolan has been quietly building a singular artistic vision, one defined by a striking limitation – a palette restricted to red and white. This self-imposed constraint
You have already encountered Nolan’s art, perhaps unknowingly. Commuters in Sydney may have walked across her terrazzo floor piece, All Alongside of Each Other, at Central Station, while residents of Melbourne might have gazed upon the towering text Enough-Now/Even/More-so adorning the Munro Community Hub near Queen Victoria Market.These public works demonstrate Nolan’s ability to seamlessly integrate art into the fabric of everyday life.
Nolan’s artistic journey began in the late 1970s, when she entered the Victorian College of the Arts after attending a Catholic girls’ convent. She quickly became a pivotal figure in Store 5, an artist-led collective that fostered a generation of leading Australian contemporary artists. Between 1989 and 1993, the collective hosted 150 exhibitions in a storage space behind a Greek cake shop on Chapel Street. “It was very sex, drugs and rock’n’roll,” Nolan recalls of the period, adding that it was a time of intense creative progress and complex relationships. “It did feel like we were making history… It was a moment in time.”
Today, Nolan resides in a Victorian-era cottage in Richmond, Melbourne, reimagined by OOF! architecture as a striking white rectangle that boldly proclaims “HELLO” on its brick facade. The house itself has become a local landmark, frequently photographed and shared on social media – a phenomenon Nolan observes with detached amusement. “This happens a bit,” she says, noting her deliberate absence from social media platforms.”Invisibility is the new radical position – I feel like I’m in a parallel universe not being on it.”
Nolan’s commitment to an “analogue” life extends to her artistic process. She eschews time-saving techniques, preferring to meticulously cut thousands of shapes by hand from materials like hessian and cardboard. This painstaking method has even necessitated surgery on her hands, but she believes the embedded labor is crucial.”The text and the time spent making becomes part of the latent energy within the work,” she explains, “and that becomes an elusive presence that gets extended to the viewer.You can’t get in one grab. You have to take the time, you have to slow down.”
This emphasis on slowing down is central to her new exhibition, Breathing Helps, curated by Dr. Victoria Lynn, which opens this week at the tarrawarra Museum of Art in Healesville. The exhibition is not a retrospective,but rather an immersive experience designed to envelop viewers in Nolan’s large-scale works. Visitors are invited to walk through, observe from above, and fully engage with the towering structures, alongside new commissioned pieces. Adding another layer to the experience, artist Shelley Lasica will present a series of dance performances within the exhibition space.
Nolan’s work resonates with the influence of artists like Jenny Holzer and Barbara Kruger, and also a longstanding interest with Russian constructivism, stemming from trips she took to Russia in the 1980s.While acknowledging these influences, nolan emphasizes that her use of text differs considerably.She doesn’t aim to be didactic,rather seeking out “meandering,gently motivating phrases” from diverse sources – overheard conversations,self-help books,art theory – transforming them into experiences that decelerate time.
Breathing Helps is on display at the TarraWarra Museum of Art in Healesville, Victoria, until November 9, 2025. Simultaneously, Nolan’s WORD WORK will be exhibited at the Anna Schwartz Gallery from august 28. These exhibitions offer a compelling possibility to experience the unique power of Rose Nolan’s art – an art that asks us to pause, to connect, and to simply breathe.
