Image: Chria Grasby. Photograph Thomas McCammon.

Following a call for applications Chiranjika (Chira) Grasby has been selected as the ART WORKS Early Career Curator and Writer in Residence 2023-24.

Chira is an emerging artist, curator, and established tattooist. She was selected for an internship at Flinders University Art Museum in 2018, completed her Bachelor of Visual Art at Adelaide Central School of Art in 2019, and was involved in Carclew’s 2019 Emerging Curator program.

Chira has curated across Adelaide Town Hall, Urban Cow Studios, Brunswick Street Gallery, Nexus Arts, Collective Haunt, and (upcoming) FELTspace ARI. She was a recipient of a Deep Dive Residency at Post Office Projects in 2021 and an Artist in Residence for Nexus Arts in 2022. She is also part of Index Adelaide, a local initiative supporting the SA zine community, and co-owns Halfpace Studio, a tattoo space and residency site.

The Early Career Curator and Writer in Residence role will facilitate broad cultural engagement and audience development through a program of artist in residence, exhibitions and public programs, supported through embedded professional mentoring.

Delivered by Guildhouse in partnership with the City of Adelaide, ART WORKS is a collaborative program of residencies, curatorial mentorship and creative engagements, designed to provide a city-based platform for artists, curators and writers to pursue new ways of working and engaging with audiences.

Now in its sixth year, ART WORKS presents multiple Artist in Residence opportunities within the City of Adelaide ArtPOD and an Early Career Curator / Writer in Residence Program mentored by Guildhouse, presenting three exhibitions within the Adelaide Town Hall and Mankurri-api Kuu / Reconciliation Room. 

These extensive artist engagements deliver on the City’s Cultural Strategy 2020-24 for Adelaide to be recognised as a cultural incubator where people, enterprises and audiences’ flourish.