Melbourne-based artist Rose Nolan has built a remarkable four-decade career around an unusual artistic constraint: working exclusively with red and white colors since the 1990s. This deliberate limitation, which she describes as profoundly liberating, freed her mind from color considerations and allowed her to focus on an extraordinary range of mediums, from massive public installations to intimate architectural models, wall paintings, banners, flags, and self-published books and pamphlets.
Nolan's work has become part of Australia's urban landscape in striking ways. Commuters regularly walk across her terrazzo-emblazoned floor installation "All Alongside of Each Other" on the concourse of Sydney's Central Station, while visitors to Melbourne's Queen Victoria Market area can look up at her towering text piece "Enough-Now/Even/More-so" displayed on the exterior of the Munro Community Hub.
The artist's journey began in the late 1970s when she transitioned from a small Catholic girls' convent to the Victorian College of the Arts. She subsequently became a driving force behind Store 5, the now-legendary artist-led collective that operated between 1989 and 1993. This artistic crucible shaped the work of many of Australia's leading contemporary artists by staging 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 that transformative period. "Over that four-year period, everybody's work really developed. And we all had so many relationships going on – It wasn't always easy, none of those group situations are, but it was really exciting. It might sound inflated but it did feel like we were making history – It was a moment in time."
Today, Nolan lives in Richmond in a house that is itself an artwork. Designed by OOF! Architecture, the Victorian-era cottage has been transformed into a white rectangle with "HELLO" spelled out on its brick facade. The striking design regularly attracts Instagram photographers, though Nolan herself maintains no social media presence whatsoever. Her home is filled with relics from Melbourne's contemporary art scene, including works by friend Kathy Temin and late mentor John Nixon, alongside hundreds of art books and ephemera. Two cats named Dennis and Lillee, named by her cricket-enthusiast partner, wander among houseplants and mid-century furniture.
When asked about her absence from social media, Nolan explains, "I know myself well enough to know that I could go down a complete rabbit hole, and I haven't got the time. Invisibility is the new radical position – I feel like I'm in a parallel universe not being on it. My life is very analogue. As is my practice."
Nolan's analog approach extends to her demanding creative process. She works with tactile, humble materials including burlap and cardboard, deliberately avoiding time-saving methods in favor of cutting thousands of shapes by hand. This painstaking technique has taken a physical toll, requiring surgery on her hands, but she believes the embedded labor transfers to viewers, compelling them to slow down and fully absorb the work. Her clear intention is to invoke presence and connection in an increasingly fast-paced world.
This philosophy underlies her new exhibition "Breathing Helps," curated by Dr. Victoria Lynn and opening this week at TarraWarra Museum of Art in Healesville. The evocative title serves as both a helpful prompt and a tongue-in-cheek reminder for Nolan to pause and take stock while embarking on this monumental project. Rather than a traditional retrospective survey, the exhibition offers an immersive experience unfolding throughout the spacious gallery, inviting viewers to walk through large-scale works, observe them from overhead, and peer down from above.
The exhibition marks the first time these towering installations have been displayed together, complemented by new commissions. Nolan has invited artist Shelley Lasica to create dance performances staged within the exhibition space, adding another layer of temporal experience to the work.
While influences from Jenny Holzer and Barbara Kruger are visible in her text-based pieces, and her several trips to Russia in the 1980s reflect a longstanding interest in Russian constructivism, Nolan distinguishes her approach from her predecessors. "Kruger and Holzer are in there but unlike their works, my words are not didactic," she explains. Instead, she gathers text from diverse sources – overheard cafe conversations, self-help books, art theory – seeking meandering, gently motivating phrases with rhythms that can be transformed into time-slowing experiences.
"The text and the time spent making becomes part of the latent energy within the work," Nolan reflects. "And that becomes an elusive presence that gets extended to the viewer. You can't get it in one grab. You have to take the time, you have to slow down." The exhibition "Rose Nolan: Breathing Helps" runs at TarraWarra Museum of Art in Healesville, Victoria, until November 9, 2025.
