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Since graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (honours) from RMIT in 2000, Emma van Leest has held over ten solo exhibitions in Australia including December Saints (Seventh Gallery, Melbourne 2005); A homage to a private place, (First Draft Inc, Sydney 2006) Wintergarden, (Federation Square 2007) and Wayfaring, (John Buckley Gallery 2007)
Her work is sought by curators and collectors alike. In 2008 she was included in the exhibitions New Victorians, at the University of Sydney and Paper Cuts at 24Hr Art Contemporary Art Space, Darwin and has been collected by PriceWaterHouse Coopers Collection and private collections throughout Australia, the US, Indonesia and New Zealand. Van Leest has also been commissioned for a number of high profile projects including her Wintergarden installation at Federation Square (2007) and Melbourne’s State of Design Festival (2007) Her work can also be seen gracing the cover and website of singer songwriter Josh Pyke’s latest album Chimney’s Afire (2008).
In 2005 van Leest was awarded a New Work grant from the Australia Council which she used to travel to Indonesia and China. In 2007, she was awarded a Skills and Development Grant from the Australia Council and a donation through the Australian Cultural Fund, which she used to take up a residency at the Sanskriti Kendra in New Delhi, India in 2008.
In this exhibition Van Leest draws upon the rich imagery from traditional Indian culture and daily life in New Delhi. The title, Before the first rain, refers to the stifling heat of the Indian summer and the heady anticipation of the first monsoon.
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