School of Art & Design
UNSW Arts, Design & Architecture is now 100K alumni strong. We spoke with some of our alumni who are making the world a better place. Here are their stories.
Drawing as a lifeforce
Del's journey to becoming a celebrated visual artist and director began in her unconventional childhood. Raised on an Angora goat farm by her parents – who experienced sheltered upbringings as part of a religious community – Del felt their 'worldly naivety' left her uninformed about the world. Del faced mental health challenges throughout her childhood, experiencing auditory hallucinations and difficulties with body boundaries and phobias. Encouraged by her mother, she turned to drawing to make sense of her world and body: "It became an obsessive lifeline connection from that point."
Del's family instilled in her the importance of education as a means of agency, especially for women. However, Del's parents understood that education is not a one-size-fits-all, and after years of being labelled as the 'weird kid' in the public school system, Del says she was 'saved' by her parent's decision to move her to a Steiner school. Her mother, who was raised in a Brethren community, was the first woman in her community to go to university.
Del understood the immense privilege and value of her access to education and set her sights on studying Fine Arts. She chose UNSW School of Art & Design because of its "academic robustness" and focus on history and art theory.
School
Degrees
Bachelor of Fine Arts 1993
Current Title
Artist, Director
Photo by Anna Kučera
In those early years for creatives, you need to blow your life up, explore and be destructive but then you sort it out and come back to the practice.
Finding her people
At 17, Del moved from her small country town to Sydney and found herself in a shared house in Newtown. It was a brave new world compared to her upbringing, and Del was learning to navigate it independently. When asked how she managed, she says, "I didn't", admitting that while it was exhilarating, it was also a reckless time for her, though it shaped her into who she is today.
Art school felt like heaven to her. She no longer felt like the "weird kid" when walking on campus. She had found her people. Her teachers encouraged her to stretch, immerse and play in her practice, building more resilience in her artmaking through critiques. Del states that as an artist, "every day you have to stand very close to abject rejection, vulnerability, self-doubt." But those moments are worth it for the experience of honing your craft. One of those worthy moments was the Fowlers Gap Field Trip (still conducted today). "Its impact caught me by surprise," Del said. "I was only 19 at the time, and to co-exist with 20 or so other creatives – studying, sharing in critique and processes of art making was revelatory."
Del's time at university was not without its challenges. She experienced a mental breakdown in her third year and needed to move back home. Soon after, she was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and spent 10 months in bed. Del has always been open about her challenges with mental health: "I feel grateful to live in a society where I feel open to share that." While she could not attend her graduation exhibit, Del still completed her degree, and UNSW purchased one of her graduating pieces. The first sale she ever made.
From painting to film
For the past 25 years, Del has been focused on figurative painting. She has attained multiple accolades, including two Archibald Prizes, one in 2008 for her self-portrait with her children titled You are what is most beautiful about me, a self-portrait with Kell and Arella. and one in 2013 for her portrait of actor Hugo Weaving. Her works are deeply personal; however, Del is not interested in projecting her meaning onto her work; audiences' interpretations are more important than hers.
“For me, interpreting my work for audiences feels disrespectful, like taking agency away from them.”
Ten years ago, Del started exploring filmmaking, interested in ways the medium can interact with the human experience. In 2022, she premiered her first feature film Blaze, which explores a traumatic experience from her childhood. The film is seen through the eyes of a young girl who seeps into her imagination, summoning an imaginary dragon to help her process her anger and journey into womanhood after witnessing a violent crime. “I let myself wear that pain because I want to give women an avenue for relearning rage.”
Del’s approach to directing is that of a caretaker, understanding her immense responsibility to audiences, especially women, when telling stories of trauma. She approached this project with transparency about her lack of experience, which she believes ultimately served the film. “I broke rules I didn’t know I was breaking, and that was a gift to those around me because they started to play”.
Advice for students
Del’s mantra has always been “hustle hard”. Now, as a mid-career artist, she is no longer saying yes to every opportunity that comes her way. She highlights the importance of understanding her body and mind and where its capacity is best placed for her quality of life and work.
While it is bittersweet, she – like many artists who have spent their whole career hustling – understands that many who live with mental health challenges, chronic illness and disabilities must also prioritise this no matter where they are in their career.
If you are determined to have a career, my strong advice is that if you can live without making your art, live without it. There is nothing else that will sustain your practice than a need to make art every day.
So Del encourages people always to persist, even when things get hard, and surround themselves with both gentle and robust people who believe in them. She also recommends getting an agent. “If suddenly a huge opportunity falls through, see that as a gift – go back to sitting in bed and drawing!” she says. “Trust the process; the work has its own internal life. It always finds its way out.”
Celebrating 100K Alumni
Join us in celebrating the achievements of UNSW Arts, Design & Architecture alumni like Del Kathryn Barton. Learn about the evolution of UNSW ADA and meet the alumni who are making the world a better place.