Zo Damage © Silvi Glattauer 2022

Bio

I am a Melbourne-based visual artist whose practice spans traditional and experimental analogue photography, digital imaging, printmaking, and installation. My research is grounded in a deep engagement with analogue processes as a means of exploring embodied aesthetic experience. Through this lens, my work interrogates the assumed truth-value of photographic representation and the constraints imposed by the frame, creating intersections between material presence and conceptual depth.

Over the past two decades, my work has been published in both print and digital media, and exhibited in solo and group exhibitions across local, regional, and state venues. My artworks are held in private collections in Australia and internationally, as well as in the permanent collections of State Library Victoria and Arts Centre Melbourne. The State Library Victoria also houses several of my published works in its holdings.

Affiliations

State Library Victoria Fellow

Australian Dostoevsky Society Artistic Director

Education

Master of Fine Art (coursework), RMIT

Master of Photography (coursework), RMIT

Selected solo exhibitions

2022: Women in Trades, The Mill, Castlemaine.

2022: Women in Trades, GovHub Hoardings, Bendigo.

2022: Spoke, Thin Slizzy Pizza, Collingwood.

2021-22: Essence, Ballarat Botanical Gardens Conservatory, BIFB, Ballarat.

2021: Nest, Bendigo Hotel, Collingwood.

2019: Still, See the Sound, Melbourne.

2019: Clan,  See the Sound, Melbourne.

2019: Seed, Market Building, Castlemaine.

2018: Roar, See the Sound, Melbourne.

2017: The Damage Report, The Kiln, Gallery 1, Arts Centre Melbourne.

2017: The Damage Report, Nanda\Hobbs Contemporary, Sydney.

2017: The Damage Report, Bib’n’Brace Collective, Brisbane.

2017: 365 Vol I, Satellite Gallery, Fitzroy.

2016: Reach. Shelf Life Gallery, Taradale.

2016: Drive, Tym’s Guitars, Brisbane.

2016: Proof. The Old Bar Gallery, Fitzroy.

2016: Eve: A celebration of women in rock & roll. Besser Space, Collingwood.

2015: Grit, The Old Bar Gallery, Fitzroy.

Selected group exhibitions

2025 (Forthcoming): View Camera Australia online exhibition June 2025, View Camera Australia

2025: Winter Days, Off the Kerb, Collingwood

2025: Female Gaze: International Women's Day Group Exhibition, Melbourne Camera Club, South Melbourne.

2024: Yellow Dot 2024, Ballarat International Foto Biennale at RACV Club, Melbourne.

2024: Bowness Photography Prize Exhibition, Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill.

2024: You Look Good. On Paper, Red Gallery, Fitzroy North.

2024: Female Gaze: International Women's Day Group Exhibition, Melbourne Camera Club, South Melbourne.

2024: View Camera Australia online exhibition March 2024, View Camera Australia.

2023: Bowness Photography Prize Exhibition, Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill.

2023: Sheet Film: An overview of work made in Victoria, XYZ Gallery, Melbourne.

2023: View Camera Australia online exhibition June 2023, View Camera Australia.

2023: View Camera Australia online exhibition March 2023, View Camera Australia.

2022: Baldessin–The Legacy, Australian Galleries, Collingwood.

2022: Female Gaze: International Women's Day Group Exhibition, Melbourne Camera Club, South Melbourne.

2021: Number One|Gudinski, Ballarat Mechanics’ Institute for BIFB, Ballarat.

2021: RMIT School of Art Grad Show, RMIT University, Melbourne.

2021: #ChooseToChallenge, Melbourne Camera Club, South Melbourne.

2021: See the Music, Focal Point Darkroom & Gallery, Geelong.

2021: Female Gaze: International Women's Day Group Exhibition, Melbourne Camera Club, South Melbourne.

2020 - Present: The Amplifier, Arts Centre Melbourne, Melbourne.

2020: Female Gaze: International Women's Day Group Exhibition, Melbourne Camera Club, South Melbourne.

2017 - Present: Australian Music Vault, Arts Centre Melbourne, Melbourne.

2016: Digs: A 40 year retrospective of live music culture in Melbourne’s inner north, Collarts, Fitzroy.

Selected (byline) publications

NoteWorthy, 2022-2023.*

IZO, 2021.

Invent Define Destruct, 2020.*

Proof, 2019.*

Grit, 2019.*

Still, 2019.*

The Damage Report, 2017.*

* Publication held in SLV collections.

Selected achievements

2024: Bowness Photography Prize Finalist (Possibilities, 2023).

2023: Bowness Photography Prize Exhibition, People’s Choice Award (Trust, 2022).

2023: Bowness Photography Prize Finalist (Trust, 2022).

2022: State Library Victoria “Tate Adams Memorial Residency at Baldessin Press and Studio” Fellowship, 2022.

2021: RMIT University School of Art “Dean’s Award for Academic Excellence”.

2020: Baldessin Press Sponsored Residency.

2018: QVM Awards, "Services  to the Community Award”.

2017: The Age Music Victoria Awards “Outstanding Achievement Award” (The Damage Report | 365 Days, Zo Damage 2016-2017).

Selected Bibliography

2024: “Yellow Dot Auction”, @ballaratfoto, Ballarat International Foto Biennale.

2024: “Bowness Photography Prize 2024 | 74 finalists announced”, Art Almanac.

2024: “INSTALLATION: Bowness Photography Prize > finalists up close”, @maph_photography, Museum of Australian Photography.

2024: “The Image Beyond the Image in Dostoevsky and a New Photographic Exhibition”, Nikolai Gladanac, Australian Dostoyevsky Society.

2023: “MEDIA RELEASE | Smith & Singer People’s Choice Award”, Museum of Australian Photography.

2023: “Guest Speaker: Zo Damage, Analogue Photographer discusses her alternative analogue photographic practice”, Melbourne Camera Club, South Melbourne.

2022: “ARTIST IN FOCUS: ZO DAMAGE”, @baldessinstudio, Baldessin Press & Studio.

2022: “Celebrating our women tradies”, Eve Lamb, Castlemaine Mail.

2022: “Photo project cuts through stereotypes”, Jonathon Magrath, Bendigo Times.

2022: “Meet the Fellows”, State Library Victoria Fellowships, State Library Victoria.

2022: “SPOKE: ZO DAMAGE”, Yarra City Arts.

2021: "State Library Victoria Fellowships", Baldessin Press & Studio.

2020: “The Amplifier SLAM Rally Experience”, Media Release, Arts Centre Melbourne.

2020: “Prolific photographer Zo Damage is selling prints to help save Melbourne’s live music venues”, Kate Streader, Beat.

2018: “Revered local music photographer ZO DAMAGE wins ‘Outstanding Achievement Award’ and opens pop-up shop ‘SEE THE SOUND’”, Amnplify.

2017: “Gerard Elson on the importance of The Damage Report”, Gerard Elson, Readings Books.

2017: “Zo Damage to Exhibit Year-Long Photography Project for Melbourne”, Paul Cashmere, Noise11.

2017: “Zo Damage’s undying dedication to Melbourne’s music scene pays off in ‘The Damage Report’”, Sam Gaffney, Beat.

2016 : “This Free Exhibition Explores Melbourne’s Music Culture and the Inner North”, Beat Magazine.

2016: “Zo Damage: Eve”, Sky Kirkham, ABC Radio National Books and Arts.“Zo Damage: Eve”, Sky Kirkham, ABC Radio National Books and Arts.