Judith Ryan

Judith Ryan AM is a renowned curator and scholar of Indigenous Australian art. With degrees from the University of Melbourne and Oxford, she began her career at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1977, becoming Senior Curator of Indigenous Art. Over four decades, she curated more than fifty exhibitions and played a key role in shaping the NGV’s Indigenous collection. A Member of the Order of Australia, she was appointed to the AIATSIS Council in 2020. Her acclaimed book TIWI Art & Artists (2021), won gold at the 2021 Independent Publisher Book Awards. Judith is currently Senior Curator, Art Museums & Collections, University of Melbourne, and is the co-editor, with Professor Marcia Langton of 65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art (Thames and Hudson, 2024).