Vivienne Joyce Binns (born 1940) is an Australian artist known for her contribution to the

Women's Art Movement The Women's Art Movement (WAM) was an Australian feminist art movement, founded in Sydney in 1974, Melbourne in 1974, and Adelaide in 1976 (as the Women's Art Group, or WAG). Background Such movements had already been created in other countries ...

in Australia, her engagement with

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

in her artwork, and her active advocacy within community arts. She works predominantly in painting.

Early life

Binns was born in

Wyong Wyong () is a town in the Central Coast of New South Wales, located approximately 63 km SSW of Newcastle and 89 km NNE of Sydney. Established in 1888, it is one of the two administrative centres for the local government area. Hist ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia, in 1940. She was the youngest of five children of her parents Joyce and Norman. Norman had enlisted in the army six months prior to Vivienne's birth and spent the majority of five years serving in the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

and

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

, while Joyce and the children lived in

Young, New South Wales Young is a town in the South West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia and the largest town in the Hilltops Region. The "Lambing Flat" Post Office opened on 1 March 1861 and was renamed "Young" in 1863. Young is marketed as the Cherry Ca ...

. In 1945, following the end of the war, the Binns family returned to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, where Binns grew up, first in Willoughby then Wollstonecraft. From 1953, Binns attended

North Sydney Girls High School , motto_translation = Towards Higher Things , established = , type = Government-funded single-sex academically selective secondary day school , gender = Girls , oversight = New South Wales Department of Education , principal = Megan Co ...

. She later pursued her tertiary education in art at the

National Art School The National Art School (NAS) is a tertiary level art school, located in , an inner-city suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The school is an independent accredited higher education provider offering specialised study in studio arts p ...

from 1958 to 1962. After her graduation, Binns stayed on campus and took on a teaching role in the drawing department. She never conformed to traditional gender roles, and, during a time of "initial, intense, introversion", was questioning her sexuality as well as interrogating the philosophies and ideas in making art, in particular

Dadaism Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 1920 Dada flourished in Paris ...

Career

Binns' first solo exhibition ''Vivienne Binns: Paintings and Constructions'' was held at

Watters Gallery Watters Gallery (1964–2018) was a private art gallery in Riley Street Sydney, Australia, run by Frank Watters (1934 – May 2020) with his business partners and friends Geoffrey and Alex Legge. It was influential and well-known, hosting exhibit ...

in Sydney in 1967. Her most well-known painting, ''Vag Dens'', featuring a brightly-coloured vagina with teeth, was hung alongside ''Phallic Monument'', which featured male genitals. Some critics excoriated her work, using phrases such as "monumental repulsion", "pure obscene horror", "the most disturbing artwork I've ever seen". Artist and critic Elwyn Lynn wrote that her work her work "affronts masculinity". After this show, Binns felt that she needed a break from painting, and became involved in community arts. In 1973, Binns worked as a field officer for the Community Arts Program, an

Australia Council The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...

initiative, visiting regional areas to "investigate needs, resources and possibilities" and doing a huge amount to stimulate and promote community arts. She started working with

vitreous enamel Vitreous enamel, also called porcelain enamel, is a material made by fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between . The powder melts, flows, and then hardens to a smooth, durable vitreous coating. The word comes from the Lati ...

and other mediums formerly regarded as "crafts" rather than art. She was influenced by and became a friend of visiting US feminist art critic

Lucy Lippard Lucy Rowland Lippard (born April 14, 1937) is an American writer, art critic, activist, and curator. Lippard was among the first writers to argue for the " dematerialization" at work in conceptual art and was an early champion of feminist art. S ...

in 1975, afterwards visiting

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and connecting with the women's art movement there. In 1979, she began her artist-in-residence program at the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

, followed by artist-in-community placements in a range of locations across New South Wales from 1980 to 1988. From the late 1980s Binns taught painting and drawing at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

Art Workshop, the

Tin Sheds The Tin Sheds was the common name of the Sydney University Art Workshop was an Australian art workshop in Sydney, New South Wales, founded in 1969. Its name lives on in the Tin Sheds Gallery at the University of Sydney School of Architecture, ...

. In 1994 she taught painting and drawing at

Charles Sturt University Charles Sturt University is an Australian multi-campus public university located in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Victoria. Established in 1989, it was named in honour of Captain Charles Napier Sturt, a British explorer w ...

Albury Albury () is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of the Murray River. Albury is the seat of local government for the council area which also bears the city's name – the ...

. She then moved to

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

to take up a lecturing position at the

Canberra School of Art The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

(later amalgamated with the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

as the ANU Institute of the Arts), teaching several subjects. In 1990 Binns travelled to central Australia and learnt some of the

creation stories A creation myth (or cosmogonic myth) is a symbolic narrative of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it., "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Creation myths develop ...

, art and culture from

Pitjantjara The Pitjantjatjara (; or ) are an Aboriginal people of the Central Australian desert near Uluru. They are closely related to the Yankunytjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra and their languages are, to a large extent, mutually intelligible (all are var ...

women. Also in 1990, In 1990, she was awarded an Australian Arts Creative Fellowship, enabling her to undertake a three-year research project about the cultural link between Australia and the

Asia-Pacific Asia-Pacific (APAC) is the part of the world near the western Pacific Ocean. The Asia-Pacific region varies in area depending on context, but it generally includes East Asia, Russian Far East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and Pacific Isla ...

. In 1991, Binns spent time in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

on an

residency, and later attended three South Pacific Festivals of the Arts, in

Raratonga Rarotonga is the largest and most populous of the Cook Islands. The island is volcanic, with an area of , and is home to almost 75% of the country's population, with 13,007 of a total population of 17,434. The Cook Islands' Parliament buildings a ...

(1992),

Western Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...

(1996) and Noumea (2000). These led to a significant amount of work which included references to

Captain James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and ...

and the artists who travelled with him, and incorporating patterns of

tapa cloth Tapa cloth (or simply ''tapa'') is a barkcloth made in the islands of the Pacific Ocean, primarily in Tonga, Samoa and Fiji, but as far afield as Niue, Cook Islands, Futuna, Solomon Islands, Java, New Zealand, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea an ...

, the traditional bark cloth of the Pacific region. In 1995 she started producing her extensive series entitled ''In Memory of the Unknown Artist'', honouring the artistic endeavours of people not generally considered to be artists, such as designers of fabric,

linoleum Linoleum, sometimes shortened to lino, is a floor covering made from materials such as solidified linseed oil (linoxyn), Pine Resin, pine resin, ground Cork (material), cork dust, sawdust, and mineral fillers such as calcium carbonate, most com ...

, carpet and bathroom tiles; housewives; traditional craftspeople;

street art Street art is visual art created in public locations for public visibility. It has been associated with the terms "independent art", "post-graffiti", "neo-graffiti" and guerrilla art. Street art has evolved from the early forms of defiant graff ...

ists and hobby artists. She continued to create artworks in this series through the 2000s. In 2000, she was resident in the Australia Council Studio in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and, in 2001, again visited Europe assisted by an ANU Faculties Research Grant. In 2002 Binns travelled to

the Kimberleys The Kimberley is the northernmost of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy and Tanami deserts in the region of the Pilbara, an ...

, afterwards including imagery relating to the landscape of the area, sometimes combined with Cook-related imagery and patterned surfaces. In 2003, she collaborated with Geoff Newton and Derek O'Connor on a series of split canvases. She retired from teaching in 2012. Binns held a solo exhibition ''It Is What It Is'' at the Sutton Gallery, by whom she is represented, in Melbourne in 2018. In 2019 Vivienne Binns was interviewed in a digital story and oral history for the

State Library of Queensland The State Library of Queensland is the main reference and research library provided to the people of the State of Queensland, Australia, by the state government. Its legislative basis is provided by the Queensland Libraries Act 1988. It contai ...

's James C Sourris AM Collection. In the interview Binns talks about her life, her art and her inspirations. , aged 81, she still works and paints in her studio, although at a slower pace and sometimes intermittently; she has had one painting on the go for two years. A major survey exhibition of her work entitled ''Vivienne Binns: On and through the Surface'' opened at MUMA (

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...

Museum of Art) on 5 February 2022, finishing up there in April and starting a run at the

Museum of Contemporary Art Australia The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA), located on George Street in Sydney's The Rocks neighbourhood, is solely dedicated to exhibiting, interpreting, and collecting contemporary art, from across Australia and around the world. It is ...

in Sydney in July. The exhibition includes more than 100 works, including prints, sculpture and drawing as well as her earliest paintings.

Art practice

Binns has worked across many media, including painting,

printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed techniq ...

, performance, sculpture and drawing. Her diverse range of artistic engagements has resulted in her being well respected amongst her Australian and global contemporaries, particularly within the

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

community.

Painting

Throughout the span of her practice, Binns has developed a strong reputation for her prolific approach to painting. Her first solo exhibition ''Vivienne Binns: Paintings and Constructions'', was held in 1967 at Watters Gallery in Sydney. Including notable works such as ''Vag Dens'' and ''Phallic Monument'', this exhibition has been recognised as a key starting point for the development of feminist art in Australia. This exhibition was one of the first of its kind, predating Judy Chicago's ''

The Dinner Party ''The Dinner Party'' is an installation artwork by feminist artist Judy Chicago. Widely regarded as the first epic feminist artwork, it functions as a symbolic history of women in civilization. There are 39 elaborate place settings on a triangul ...

'' and "critically affirming the power of women's sexuality whilst also provoking... a good measure of castration anxiety amongst the patriarchy". Through decades of experimentation with colour and form, Binns has conceptually explored ideas ranging from feminism to colonial critique within her painting practice. Binns utilises abstraction as a way to communicate complex ideas and make them accessible to a broader audience.

Women's Art Movement

Alongside feminist contemporaries such as Barbara Hall,

Frances Phoenix Frances Phoenix (née Budden) (1950–2017) was an Australian feminist artist known for needlework and poster designs. Phoenix contributed to the Women's Art Movement groups in both Sydney and Adelaide, as well as multiple community art projec ...

(nee Budden),

Beverly Garlick Beverley Garlick (born 1944) is an Australian architect. She completed a bachelor of architecture degree at the University of Melbourne. Along with feminist contemporaries such as Vivienne Binns, Barbara Hall, Frances Phoenix, Jude Adams and ...

Jude Adams Jude may refer to: People Biblical * Jude, brother of Jesus, who is sometimes identified as being the same person as Jude the Apostle * Jude the Apostle, an apostle also called Judas Thaddaeus or Lebbaeus, the patron saint of lost causes in the ...

and

Toni Robertson Toni Robertson (born 1953) is a visual artist, art historian and printmaker from Sydney, Australia. She is known for her poster making and involvement in the Earthworks Poster Collective, which operated out of the "Tin Shed" art workshops at ...

, Binns was at the forefront of the development of The

(WAM) in Sydney, Beginning in 1973 and inspired by

Linda Nochlin Linda Nochlin (''née'' Weinberg; January 30, 1931 – October 29, 2017) was an American art historian, Lila Acheson Wallace Professor Emerita of Modern Art at New York University Institute of Fine Arts, and writer. As a prominent feminist art h ...

’s essay "

Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists? "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?" is a 1971 essay by American art historian Linda Nochlin. It was praised for its new slant on feminist art history and theory, and examining the institutional obstacles that prevent women from succeeding ...

", WAM aimed to address discrimination and sexism within the art world through various actions and exhibitions. Binns was a founding member in 1974. WAM was particularly dedicated to the documentation of women's artwork through the development of the Women's Art Register. Feminism and the Women's Art Movement serves as a political undercurrent for much of Binns practice:

Community art

Binns was a prominent figure in the development of community arts in Australia. In 1972 she collaborated with Mike Morris and Tim Burns on ''The'' ''Artsmobile'', a travelling community arts project that brought

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (Zurich), Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 192 ...

and

Surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

style performance work to centres along the north east coast of NSW. Described as "the offspring of a marriage between

Fluxus Fluxus was an international, interdisciplinary community of artists, composers, designers and poets during the 1960s and 1970s who engaged in experimental art performances which emphasized the artistic process over the finished product. Fluxus ...

and a local town council bookmobile", ''the'' ''Artsmobile'' brought a variety of art-based activities to schools, seniors centres and public parks. Continuing with her interest in community arts and also related to the questions raised by the Women's Art Movement, Binns developed ''Mothers' Memories, Others' Memories'' in 1978 during her artist's residency at the

. Beginning with staff and students of the university, Binns later expanded the project to the Sydney suburb of

Blacktown Blacktown is a suburb in the City of Blacktown, in Greater Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Blacktown is located west of the Sydney central business district. It is one of the most multicultural places within Grea ...

, where she worked closely with Patricia Parker, a community officer at the

Blacktown City Council Blacktown City Council is a local government area in Western Sydney, situated on the Cumberland Plain, approximately west of the Sydney central business district, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1906 as the Blacktow ...

. ''Mothers' Memories, Others' Memories'' recalled the "lives of women and their means of expression in the domestic sphere", through facilitating a space where participants could come and share stories of the various craft and needlework skills that they had been taught from their mothers and other members of their family. Described as "dense, fragmented, ndmultilayered" The final work was exhibited as a series of postcards installed on a postcard rack. The project continued until 1981. In 1983, Binns began work on her next major community art project ''Full Flight''. Travelling and living in a caravan for two years in the Central West region of

, Binns stayed for two to four months in each town facilitating workshops, mural painting and skill sharing. This project celebrated "the creativity of ordinary people" Her interest in community arts came primarily from an urge to make the art world accessible to everyone beyond the constraints of art institutions. Binns believed that creative expression was an inherent part of the human experience, and not allowing for this expression freely was a form of "social control": In 1989, Binns began another community art project, ''The Tower of Babel'', at the Watters Gallery. It started with 50 small

diorama A diorama is a replica of a scene, typically a three-dimensional full-size or miniature model, sometimes enclosed in a glass showcase for a museum. Dioramas are often built by hobbyists as part of related hobbies such as military vehicle mode ...

s, created by herself as well as friends, mentors, students and acquaintances, including Irene Maher, Mike Brown, Ruth Waller,

Bonita Ely Bonita Ely (born 1946) is an Australian multidisciplinary artist who lives in Sydney, whose work has been internationally exhibited. She established her reputation as an environmental artist in the early 1970s through her works concerning the ...

and Eugene Carchesio. The project is still ongoing as of 2022, when it comprises 90 boxes. In 1991, Binns was the general editor of ''Community and the Arts: History, Theory, Practice'', a collection of essays which served as a "theoretical text for community practitioners in the arts".

Recognition and awards

According to the Australia Council, "Binns was one of the first artists in Australia to critically engage with feminism and pioneered dialogues between Australian art and international feminism". In 1983, Binns was awarded an

Order of Australia Medal The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

for Services to Art and Craft. She was also awarded the Ros Bower Memorial Award for visionary contribution to Community Arts in 1985. In 1990, she was awarded an Australian Arts Creative Fellowship, which financed her three-year research project about the cultural link between Australia and the

. Her work was selected for invitational prizes the John McCaughey Memorial Prize (2008) and

Clemenger Contemporary Art Award The Clemenger Contemporary Art Award, also referred to as the Clemenger Award, was a major, triennial, invitational art prize organised under the auspices of the National Gallery of Victoria and funded by the philanthropists Joan and Peter Cleme ...

(2009) at the

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...

. In 2021, Binns was the recipient of an

Australia Council Award The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austr ...

for Visual Arts.

Exhibitions

Binns has been a part of many exhibitions spanning over fifty years of art practice, including:

Solo exhibitions

* 1967 ''Paintings and Constructions'', Watters Gallery, Sydney * 1971 ''Funky Enamel Ashtrays'', Watters Gallery, Sydney * 1973 ''Enamel Panels'',

University of Tasmania The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is a public research university, primarily located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1890, it is Australia's fourth oldest university. Christ College, one of the university's residential colleges, first pro ...

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

and Raffins Gallery,

Orange, New South Wales Orange is a city in the Central Tablelands region of New South Wales, Australia. It is west of the state capital, Sydney on a great circle at an altitude of . Orange had an estimated urban population of 40,493 Estimated resident population, 3 ...

* 1985 Watters Gallery, Sydney * 1990 ''Drawings of God, Tower of Babel'', Bellas Gallery,

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

* 1992 Sutton Gallery, Melbourne * 1994 ''Surfacing in the Pacific'', Bellas Gallery, Brisbane * 1995 ''Pacific Strands'', Australian Girls' Own Gallery (aGOG),

* 1996 ''Slicing History in the Pacific'', Bellas Gallery, Brisbane * 1996 ''In Memory of the Unknown Artist and Others'', Watters Gallery, Sydney * 1999 ''PATTERNING: In Memory of Unknown Artists'', Sutton Gallery, Melbourne *1999 ''TRANSLATIONS: Remembering Unknown Artists'', Bellas Gallery, Brisbane *1999 ''Rocks and Relics: Cook to Lake Cargelligo'', The Cube, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Canberra * 2004 ''Vivienne Binns: Twenty First Century Paintings'', curated by Merryn Gates, The Cross Art Projects, Sydney * 2005 ''Some New, Some Old, Some Collaborations'', Sutton Gallery, Melbourne * 2006-8 ''Vivienne Binns'', touring exhibition curated by Merryn Gates,

Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) is a museum located in Hobart, Tasmania. The museum was established in 1846, by the Royal Society of Tasmania, the oldest Royal Society outside England. The TMAG receives 400,000 visitors annually. ...

, Hobart; The

Drill Hall Gallery The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

, Australian National University, Canberra; Penrith Regional Gallery, Penrith, NSW; and Bathurst Regional Gallery, Bathurst, NSW * 2008 ''Everything New is Old Again'', Sutton Gallery, Melbourne * 2012 V''ivienne Binns, Art and Life'' (mini –Survey), curated by Penny Peckham,

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora. The university was established in 1964, becoming the third university in the state of Victoria an ...

Museum of Art, Melbourne * 2018 ''It is what it is what it is'', Sutton Gallery, Melbourne * 2022 ''Vivienne Binns: On and through the Surface'', MUMA, Melbourne, then

, Sydney

Group exhibitions

* 1971 ''Woom'', environmental lightshow with Roger Foley (Ellis D Fogg), Watters Gallery, Sydney * 1972 ''The Jo Bonomo Story - A Show of Strength'', a group happening, Watters Gallery, Sydney * 1978 ''An exhibition of work by homosexual and lesbian artists'', Watters Gallery, Sydney * 1980 ''Mothers' Memories, Others' Memories'', Blacktown artist in community and participation project, Watters Gallery, Sydney; Ewing and George Paton Galleries, University of Melbourne, Melbourne * 1981 ''Australian Perspecta'',

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most importa ...

, Sydney * 1981-83 ''Full-Flight'', artist-in-community in the central western region of NSW * 1982 Biennale of Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney * 1987 ''Contemporary Art in Australia A Review'',

Museum of Contemporary Art Museum of Contemporary Art (often abbreviated to MCA, MoCA or MOCA) may refer to: Africa * Museum of Contemporary Art (Tangier), Morocco, officially le Galerie d'Art Contemporain Mohamed Drissi Asia East Asia * Museum of Contemporary Art Shangha ...

South Brisbane South Brisbane is an inner southern Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , South Brisbane had a population of 7,196 people. Geography The suburb is on the southern bank of the Brisba ...

* 1991 ''Frames of Reference: Aspects of Feminism and Art'', Pier 4/5, Sydney * 1996 ''Women Hold Up Half the Sky: The Orientation of Art in the Post-War Pacific'', MUMA, Melbourne * 1997 ''I had a Dream: Australian Art in the 1960s'',

, Melbourne * 1998 ''Patterning: Layers of Meaning in Contemporary Art'', curated by Merryn Gates, touring to Canberra;

Bandung Bandung ( su, ᮘᮔ᮪ᮓᮥᮀ, Bandung, ; ) is the capital city of the Indonesian province of West Java. It has a population of 2,452,943 within its city limits according to the official estimates as at mid 2021, making it the fourth most ...

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...

Ubud Ubud is a town on the Indonesian island of Bali in Ubud District, located amongst rice paddies and steep ravines in the central foothills of the Gianyar regency. Promoted as an arts and culture centre, it has developed a large tourism industry. ...

Yogyakarta Yogyakarta (; jv, ꦔꦪꦺꦴꦒꦾꦏꦂꦠ ; pey, Jogjakarta) is the capital city of Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by a monarchy, ...

, Indonesia;

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

, Pakistan; and

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

, Philippines * 2000 ''On the Brink: Abstraction in the 90’s'',

Heide Museum of Modern Art The Heide Museum of Modern Art, also known as Heide, is an art museum in Bulleen, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Established in 1981, the museum houses modern and contemporary art across three distinct exhibition buildings and is s ...

, Melbourne * 2007 ''Cross Currents: Focus on Contemporary Australian Art'',

Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA), located on George Street in Sydney's The Rocks neighbourhood, is solely dedicated to exhibiting, interpreting, and collecting contemporary art, from across Australia and around the world. It is ...

* 2012 ''Sixties Explosion'', Macquarie University Art Gallery, Sydney * 2014 ''Binns + Valamanesh'',

Casula Powerhouse Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre (CPAC), commonly referred to as Casula Powerhouse, is a multi-disciplinary arts centre in Casula, a south-western outer suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Before being renovated and converted into an art ...

, Sydney * 2015 ''Pop to Popism'', Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney * 2017-18 ''Unfinished Business: Perspectives on Art & Feminism'', Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne

Major collections

Her work is represented in private collections as well as in many major collections, including: *

, Sydney *

Art Gallery of Western Australia The Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA) is a public art gallery that is part of the Perth Cultural Centre, in Perth. It is located near the Western Australian Museum and State Library of Western Australia and is supported and managed by the ...

, Perth *

, Canberra *

BHP BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

, Melbourne *

Canberra Museum and Gallery Canberra Museum and Gallery is an art gallery and museum in Canberra, the capital of Australia. It is located on London Circuit, in Civic in the centre of the city. The gallery was opened on 13 February 1998. The museum houses a permanent colle ...

, Canberra *

Griffith University Griffith University is a public research university in South East Queensland on the east coast of Australia. Formally founded in 1971, Griffith opened its doors in 1975, introducing Australia's first degrees in environmental science and Asian s ...

Art Collection,

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

Ian Potter Museum of Art The Ian Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne in Melbourne, Australia was established in 1972. It houses the art collection of the University of Melbourne. Current director, Kelly Gellatly, was appointed in 2013. It is not to be con ...

, Melbourne. *

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global investment company that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and, through its strate ...

Monash University Museum of Art The Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA), formerly the Monash University Gallery, is a contemporary art museum on Monash University's Caulfield campus on Dandenong Road, Melbourne, Australia. History The Museum grew out of a number of ear ...

(MUMA), Melbourne *

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

, Canberra *

, Melbourne *

Newcastle Art Gallery The Newcastle Art Gallery (formerly the Newcastle City Art Gallery, Newcastle Region Art Gallery) is a large, public art museum in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. History Founded in 1945 with an art collection consisting of 123 works ...

, Newcastle, New South Wales * Parliament House Art Collection, Canberra * Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville, Queensland *

Queensland Art Gallery The Queensland Art Gallery (QAG) is an art museum located in South Bank, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The gallery is part of QAGOMA. It complements the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) building, situated only away. The Queensland Art Galler ...

, Brisbane * University Art Gallery,

Queensland University , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = Br ...

, Brisbane *

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

Cruthers Collection of Women's Art Cruthers Collection of Women's Art is a collection of more than 700 artworks by Australian women, held at the University of Western Australia. It is the only public collection focused on women's art in Australia. The Cruthers Collection was fo ...

Wesfarmers Wesfarmers Limited is an Australian conglomerate, headquartered in Perth, Western Australia. It has interests predominantly in Australia and New Zealand, operating in retail, chemical, fertiliser, industrial and safety products. With revenue o ...

, Perth

References

External Links

Vivienne Binns OAM digital stories and oral history
John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, 25 June 2019, 6min, 28:57min and 58min version available to view online. {{DEFAULTSORT:Binns, Vivienne 1940 births Living people Australian women painters Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Academic staff of the Australian National University 20th-century Australian women artists 20th-century Australian artists 21st-century Australian women artists 21st-century Australian artists