Chelle Destefano

Chelle Destefano is a Deaf multi-disciplinary artist born in 1979 in Melbourne, living/working in Victoria. Working with performance art, sculpture, textile, poetry and Auslan poetry, drawing and painting, Destefano recently completed her Masters of Contemporary Art at VCA at Melbourne Uni. She has been making art since she began studying a Bachelor of Visual Arts and Applied Design in 2001-2006 in Adelaide. Currently her work focuses on development experiences into new works that inform the process of gestural Deaf language in dance and give people the chance to question through works. Winner of the Lake Art Award in 2020 and finalist in many art awards recently from 2019 including the Banyule Art Award for works on paper (2019 and 2022), the Lyn McCrea Drawing Prize (2019), Fishers Ghost Art Award (2020), Noel Counihan Commemorative Award (2019 and 2020), Footscray Art Award (2021) and the Incinerator Art Award (2020).

2020-2021 Masters of Contemporary Art - Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne

2001-2006 Bachelor of Visual Arts & Applied Design – O’Halloran Hill TAFE Campus, Adelaide

Group Exhibitions/Performances
2022
What I Wish I’d Told You, Collaborative Deaf project with Claire Bridge, Realm ArtSpace

What I Wish I’d Told You, Collaborative Deaf project with Claire Bridge, Hyphen, Wodonga

What I Wish I’d Told You, Collaborative Deaf project with Claire Bridge, FCAC, Footscray

Finalist Exhibition for the Omina Art Prize, St Kevin’s College, Toorak, Melbourne

Finalist Exhibition for the Wyndham Art Prize, Wyndham Art Gallery, Werribee, Melbourne

Finalist Exhibition for the Banyule Art Prize, Art Gallery 275, Ivanhoe, Melbourne

The IRL+URL Exhibition, Queertech.IO, Midsummer Festival 2022, Melbourne

Face-to-Face performance, collaboration with Elvin Lam and Melody Shotade, Midsummer

2021
Master of Contemporary Art Graduate Exhibition, VCA, Melbourne University, Melbourne

Sawtooth ARI Members' Exhibition, Sawtooth ARI Gallery, Tasmania

Microcosm, 2021 Craft Contemporary Satellite Program, Clan Collective, Melbourne

Face Me: Art of Deafhood, Lismore Regional Gallery, Lismore, NSW

Finalist in the Watercolour Muster 2021

From Where I Stand #3, Masters of Contemporary Art 2nd year Exhibition, VCA, Melb

Memory Lane Public Art, Midsumma Festival and Metro Tunnel Creative P...