Olivia Gates, 2026. Image courtesy of Cassie Abraham.
Olivia’s residency is possible in partnership with The Canberra Glassworks
Meet the artist
Olivia Gates is an artist working and living between Ngunawal / Ngambri Country (Canberra) and her hometown on Dharawal Country. Working primarily with glass, Gates’ work reflects spiralling internal dialogues around the contrasting impacts of her convict/settler lineage, both in generational connection to - and ongoing destructive colonial claims on place. She makes works that gently hold space for listening, with intention to open respectful dialogues of shared experience and revised histories.
Gates graduated with a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours) / Bachelor of Design from the Australian National University in 2021. She has exhibited both locally and internationally and has acquired prizes recognising her work such as the Boronia Prize for excellence in glass, the Corning Museum of Glass / Australian National University School of Art and Design Partner Scholarship, and the Nigel Thomson Travel Grant.
During her residency, Gates intends to build upon recent learnings in printmaking processes, and how they can be integrated into her glass tool making practice. She endeavours to create cast tools from reclaimed CRT TV screens,which vary in colour from dense purples to a light aquamarine, and if not claimed for creative reuse, will be crushed down and integrated into road base. A small number of glass artists in the ACT region utilise this material in their work, diverting waste while gaining access to a free, local, and environmentally conscious alternative to imported raw materials. Through this residency, Gates hopes to connect more artists and communities to this abundant and underutilised material.
