Steve Tonkin

Freelance Curator
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Steven Tonkin is currently working as an independent curator in Melbourne, and has a personal interest in both artists' books and multiples. During 2005, Steven was the Senior Curator at Cairns Regional Gallery, managing the Gallery's exhibition program, as well as curating a number of shows, including a survey of Tom Risley's recent work and the forthcoming Paradise Found: imaging the Tropics, which explores artist's engagements with the landscape of Far North Queensland. From 2006 to 2004 Steven worked at the National Gallery of Australia in various roles, including with Education & Public Programs, as a curatorial assistant in Australian Art and as Assistant Curator, Research, which involved working across both the Australian and International collections. His main interest is in twentieth century art, with particular expertise in Australian modernism, post-war American art, conceptual and Contemporary art.

Having studied Economics then Art History and Curatorship at the Australian National University, Steven is currently writing his PhD dissertation on the artist's book as an alternative space, from the 1960s to the present. His research charts the emergence of the artists' book in the 1960s and the accompanying literature legitimising the artform as a 'democratic multiple', as well as locating Australian practice within an international context.