Nikki Willson

Current photography practice and work experience:

I am a feminist, lens-based artist working across photography and moving image installation. My current practice explores themes of neurodivergence, interiority, trauma, and the gendered gaze, grounded in my lived experience as a bipolar, neurodiverse woman. Through staged photography and video, I construct emotionally resonant, affect-driven visual languages that challenge the traditional viewer-object relationship and foreground embodied subjectivity.

My process involves using the body, movement, light, and sound to evoke emotional and psychological states. I develop this material into photographic series and spatial video installations that immerse the viewer in layered, sensory experiences. I am particularly interested in the intersection of photography and psychiatric histories, responding to the clinical objectification of women—such as Charcot’s 19th-century photographs of ‘hysteria’—by reclaiming agency through performative re-imagining.

My interdisciplinary approach draws on my academic background in psychology, literature, dance, and performance, and is informed by affect theory (Massumi, Ahmed, Watkins). Influences conceptually and aesthetically include artists Barbara Morgan, Pat Brassington, Louise Bourgeois, Bill Viola, Ali Tahayori, Marlene Dumas, Ayana V. Jackson, David Rosetzky, Cate Considine, Bronwyn Kidd, and Aneta Grzeszykowska. Choreographers like Damien Jalet and Martha Graham influence my understanding of the body as expressive, ambiguous, and emotionally resonant.

I have exhibited in solo and group shows in Australia the UK and Japan, participated in residencies in Australia and Japan, and continue to develop new bodies of work that integrate photography, video, and spatial installation.

www.nikkiwillson.com

What I want to achieve through the Master of Photography at RMIT

Through the MFA program at RMIT, I hope to expand the scale, ambition, and technical depth of my photographic practice. My goal is to move further into immersive, spatial installations that incorporate photography and moving image, engaging the viewer’s body and emotions in more reciprocal, embodied ways. I want to push against the constraints of two-dimensionality, working with three-dimensional display techniques, multi-channel video, and installation environments that heighten affective impact and challenge passive looking.

Conceptually, I am eager to deepen my engagement with feminist and affect theory, refining how my photographic work critically interrogates histories of psychiatric representation, voyeurism, and the gendered gaze. I want to explore new modes of image-making that centre subjectivity, complexity, and interiority—especially in relation to neurodivergent experience.

The program offers a unique opportunity for sustained critical dialogue, mentorship, and technical experimentation. Access to space, professional facilities, and cross-disciplinary expertise will allow me to test new directions in form and concept, while collaborative conversations will help evolve the depth and precision of my practice.

Looking forward, I aim to continue exhibiting work in contemporary art spaces, contributing to visual culture through a feminist, neurodivergent lens. This program is a vital step toward these long-term goals.