Profiles
Martin Walch
UTAS Home Dr Martin Walch
Martin Walch
Head of Studio, Photography
Art | School of Creative Arts and Media
Centre for the Arts , Hobart CBD Campuses
Martin is Lecturer and Course Coordinator for the Art and Natural Environment Field trip units, whilst also occasionally lecturing in Photography and Electronic Media and conducting Honors supervision.
Career summary
Qualifications
Martin was educated at the Tasmanian School of Art, University of Tasmania attaining a Bachelor of Fine Art with Honors in Photography in 1994. He also completed a Master of Fine Arts by Research, in Digital Stereoscopic Photography and Landscape, in 1998, and has completed a PhD at the Tasmanian School of Art in 2009, where he is also a part-time Lecturer and Course Coordinator of the Art and Natural Environment units. Martin was Artist-in-Residence with Copper Mines of Tasmania at Mount Lyell, Western Tasmania between 1998-2003. Awards and bursaries include: joint-winner Siglo magazine’s National Collaborations Prize for Writers and Photographers (with writer Lisa Morissett) 1997; New Media Fund Development Grant, Australia Council for the Arts 1999; Arts Tasmania artist grants 1997 and 2000. Martin has recently completed a three-year appointment to the Visual Arts/Craft Board of the Australia Council for the Arts.
Martin has participated in 18+ group exhibitions including: Photographica Australis Asia Tour, Naarden Photo Festival Nederlands, ARCO Madrid, 2002 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art; Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney; SOFA, New York; ARTV, Australian Centre for the Moving Image.
Martin is represented in public and private collections including the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and the Art Gallery of South Australia.
View more on Dr Martin Walch in WARP
Expertise
The central concern of the work Martin has produced over the past decade is a preoccupation with visual perception and so-called ‘objective’ systems of measurement. His work is about the inability of empirical systems to provide descriptions of reality that go beyond the logical and rational. Martin has pursued a process of investigation that focuses on visual descriptions of landscape as the subject – due to their accessibility as a common experiential space and because of their complex and culturally dependent definitions.
Current research into the theory of landscape representation has focused on redefining popular conceptions of Wilderness, and investigating the role of “Nature Porn” in the commodification of the natural environment in Tasmania.
Fields of Research
- Photography, video and lens-based practice (360604)
- Fine arts (360602)
- Digital and electronic media art (360503)
- Visual cultures (360104)
- Performance art (360603)
- Crafts (360601)
- Environmental law (480203)
- Cinema studies (360501)
- Visual arts (360699)
- Performing arts (360499)
- Australian literature (excl. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander literature) (470502)
- Literary studies (470599)
- Creative writing (incl. scriptwriting) (360201)
Research Objectives
- The creative arts (130103)
- Arts (130199)
- Expanding knowledge in creative arts and writing studies (280122)
- Understanding climate change (190599)
- Environmental policy, legislation and standards (190299)
- Understanding Australia's past (130703)
- Other environmental management (189999)
- Languages and linguistics (130202)
- Expanding knowledge in language, communication and culture (280116)
- Information systems, technologies and services (220499)
- Conserving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage and culture (210407)
Publications
Total publications
42
Journal Article
(1 outputs)| Year | Citation | Altmetrics |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Walch MB, 'Beyond Euclid's fifth', Visual Communication, 6, (2) pp. 214-219. ISSN 1470-3572 (2007) [Professional, Non Refereed Article] |
Conference Publication
(3 outputs)| Year | Citation | Altmetrics |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Stephenson DM, Walch MB, 'The Derwent project: immersive models for the representation of complex environments', Programme Water:Image Conference, 4 - 6 July 2012, University of Plymouth, pp. 6. (2012) [Conference Extract] Co-authors: Stephenson DM | |
| 2005 | Walch MB, 'Nature Porn: The emergence and current usage of the term 'Nature-Porn' as a tool for an aesthetic critique', Proceedings of 'Imaging Nature: Media, Environment and Tourism', 27-29 June 2004, Cradle Mountain, Tasmania, pp. http://www.utas.edu.au/arts/imaging/. (2005) [Refereed Conference Paper] | |
| 2003 | Walch MB, 'Lines of Sight from Signs of Light', Survey: Current art and design research and practice within Australian tertiary art and design schools, 1 - 4 October 2003, Tasmanian School of Art, University of Tasmania EJ (2003) [Refereed Conference Paper] |
Major Creative Work
(20 outputs)| Year | Citation | Altmetrics |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Walch M, 'Aurora_Australis_V1_2017_Hobart_to_Davis', TIDAL 2020, The Devonport Art Award, Devonport Regional Art Gallery, Devonport, Tasmania (2020) [Published Creative Work] | |
| 2017 | Walch M, 'SPECTRA 2018: The Art and Consequence of Collaboration', SASA Gallery, Adelaide, Australia (2017) [Published Creative Work] | |
| 2017 | Walch MB, Stephenson D, 'The Derwent Project', Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, Tasmania (2017) [Curated Exhibition] Co-authors: Stephenson D | |
| 2013 | Stephenson DM, Walch MB, ''Derwent River entering Lake King William, 8/10/2012, 5:29am' in Domain: a contested environment', Plimsoll Gallery, Tasmanian College of the Arts, University of Tasmania, for Ten Days on the Island, Domain House, Queens Domain, Hobart, 1 (2013) [Published Creative Work] Co-authors: Stephenson DM | |
| 2013 | Walch MB, 'Chamonix Valley and North Lyell from East Owen Spur: North Lyell Mine disaster 1912', Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts, 1 (2013) [Published Creative Work] | |
| 2012 | Stephenson DM, Walch MB, ''Lake King William, 3 mornings' in Isle of Many Waters', Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, Tasmania, 5, pp. 1 work (2012) [Published Creative Work] Co-authors: Stephenson DM | |
| 2012 | Stephenson DM, Walch MB, ''The Derwent Project - Three sketches for multi-channel video installations' screened at Water:Image international conference', University of Plymouth, Hobart, Tasmania, 5, pp. 3 works (2012) [Published Creative Work] Co-authors: Stephenson DM | |
| 2012 | Walch MB, 'Wonderland: Mist Opportunities', Museum Of Contemporary Art, Taipei, 1, pp. single work (2012) [Published Creative Work] | |
| 2011 | Walch MB, 'Mist Opportunities 1 in River Effects: The Waterways of Tasmania', Plimsoll Gallery/Academy Gallery, Launceston and Hobart, 1/5, pp. 1 work (2011) [Published Creative Work] | |
| 2011 | Walch MB, 'Mist Opportunities 2 in Van Diemen's Land: Tasmanian Art in the UK', Celia Lendis Contemporary, Celia Lendis Galleries, Gloustershire, UK, 1/10 (2011) [Published Creative Work] | |
| 2010 | Walch MB, 'Source in Encoded', Ela Video / Art Taipei 2010, Taipei World Trade Center, Taiwan (2010) [Published Creative Work] | |
| 2009 | Walch M, 'Trust - prospect', Ten Days on the Island, Penghana, Queenstown, Tasmania (2009) [Published Creative Work] | |
| 2009 | Walch MB, 'Sticks and Stones', Flinders University City Gallery, Adelaide Fringe Festival, 1 (2009) [Published Creative Work] | |
| 2008 | Walch MB, 'Drowning by Numbers - mapping four seasons at one location', Hobart City Council, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, 1 (2008) [Published Creative Work] | |
| 2008 | Walch MB, Sawford R, 'Bob Brown video portrait', National Portrait Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra (2008) [Recorded Creative Work] Co-authors: Sawford R | |
| 2004 | Walch MB, 'Six traces in far dimensions: Re-mapping Tasmania', Department of Fine Arts, Bangladesh Shilpakala Aca, Bangladesh, pp. 1 (2004) [Published Creative Work] | |
| 2004 | Walch MB, 'OverDrawn', Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Tasmania, Australia, pp. 1 (2004) [Published Creative Work] | |
| 2003 | Walch MB, 'Six Traces in Four Dimensions: Re-mapping Tasmania ', from the exhibition Photographica Australis, Asia tour, Australian Centre for Photography and Asialink, pp. 8 (2003) [Published Creative Work] | |
| 2002 | Walch MB, 'Overwritten/Underwritten; Mount Lyell Project', Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, pp. 2 (2002) [Published Creative Work] | |
| 1997 | Arnold RE, Morrison A, Walch MB, Ruffels TD, Lendis AJ, 'Excursive Site', Cradle Mountain Visitors Centre and Plimsoll Gallery, Hobart, pp. 24 (1997) [Recorded Creative Work] Co-authors: Arnold RE; Morrison A; Ruffels TD; Lendis AJ |
Other Creative Work
(11 outputs)| Year | Citation | Altmetrics |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Stephenson DM, Walch MB, 'Drowned Forests of the Navarre, Lake King William, 13 August 2012', Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne (2014) [Minor Creative Work] Co-authors: Stephenson DM | |
| 2013 | Walch MB, 'Mist Opportunities', Parliament House Art Collection, Department of Parlimentary Services, Canberra, pp. 1 (2013) [Acquisition] | |
| 2010 | Walch MB, 'Royal Derwent Hospital - Ward 7', Macmillan Art Publishing / Australian Research Council, Australia Council / Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, pp. 2 pages, 1 work (2010) [Representation of Original Art] | |
| 2009 | Walch MB, 'Source', Novamedia, Washington DC, USA, pp. 1 (2009) [Representation of Original Art] | |
| 2008 | Walch MB, 'Losing the Plot - XYZ/T v15-220206', Plimsoll Gallery, University of Tasmania, Hobart, pp. 1 (2008) [Representation of Original Art] | |
| 2006 | Walch MB, 'Utah Tanks, West Lyall Open-Cut, MT Lyell, Tasmania', Plimsoll Gallery, University of Tasmania, Hobart, pp. 1 (2006) [Representation of Original Art] | |
| 2005 | Walch MB, 'Acid Drainage, Crown Lyell Mine; West Lyell Euclid Tyre; West Lyell Fly Rock', Plimsoll Gallery, University of Tasmania, Hobart (and national tour), pp. 3 (2005) [Representation of Original Art] | |
| 2003 | Frankham NH, Walch MB, 'IXL Art', Plimsoll Gallery, Hobart, pp. 35 (2003) [Catalogue] Co-authors: Frankham NH | |
| 2003 | Walch MB, 'Anamorphic Landscape', Claremont College, Hobart, pp. 1 (2003) [Acquisition] | |
| 2003 | Walch MB, 'Split Decisions 1 & 2/Exploration and Development', Bett Gallery, Hobart, pp. 2 (2003) [Representation of Original Art] | |
| 2002 | Walch MB, 'Mt Lyell Project series', Various locations in Madrid, Madrid, pp. 2 (2002) [Representation of Original Art] |
Thesis
(2 outputs)| Year | Citation | Altmetrics |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Walch MB, 'Beyond Linearity: Contemporary Drawing and the Naturalistic Representation of Experience' (2009) [PhD] | |
| 1998 | Walch MB, 'An Analysis of Experiential Space at the Close of the Twentieth Century' (1998) [Masters Research] |
Other Public Output
(5 outputs)| Year | Citation | Altmetrics |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Walch MB, 'Martin Walch', Dumbo Feather, pass it on, Bezar Holdings Pty Ltd, Sydney NSW, 1, 19 (2009) [Magazine Article] | |
| 2008 | Walch MB, 'Drowning By Numbers: mapping four seasons at one location', Hobart City Art Prize - winner, two-dimensional fine art category, Hobart City Council, Hobart, Tasmania (2008) [Award] | |
| 2006 | Walch MB, 'Martin Walch: Apocalyptic Vision ', Tasmanian Visions, Polymath Press, Hobart, 1, 1 (2006) [Award] | |
| 2003 | Walch MB, 'Mining the lunar beauty of Queenstown - the stereoscopic photography of Martin Walch', Space - ABC Arts online, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Sydney NSW, May 2003 (2003) [Media Interview] | |
| 2002 | Walch MB, 'Place Works', Artlink, Adelaide, 22, 2 (2002) [Magazine Article] |
Grants & Funding
Funding Summary
Number of grants
5
Total funding
$549,777
Projects
Creative Antarctica: Australian Artists and Writers in the Far South (2022 - 2024)$314,000
- Description
- The project aims to make the rich history of Australian artists' and writers' engagement with Antarctica visible through an innovative combination of critical, curatorial, and qualitative research. It expects to generate new interdisciplinary knowledge of creative responses to the South Polar region. Anticipated outcomes include the first comprehensive history and analysis of the Antarctic stories, sounds, and images produced by Australian artists and writers and recommendations for maximising Antarctic residency outcomes. At a time when Antarctica's future is threatened by warming temperatures and geopolitical tensions, the project provides significant benefits in the form of broader and deeper public engagement with the ice continent.
- Funding
- Australian Research Council ($314,000)
- Scheme
- Grant-Discovery Projects
- Administered By
- University of Tasmania
- Research Team
- Leane E; Philpott CJ; Samartzis P; Williams SL; Walch MB; Nielsen HE; Fox W; Yasuda S
- Period
- 2022 - 2024
- Grant Reference
- DP220103005
Engaging Communities in Nature Conservation through Aesthetics and Art (2018)$13,742
- Description
- The project aims to improve academic knowledge and practical knowhow in developing a richer and moresocially inclusive framework for engaging communities in nature conservation through aesthetics, includingthe arts, and thereby to generate recommendations for nongovernmental organisations and governmentpolicymakers working on environmental issues. This will be achieved through a community workshop, fieldCALHothouseResearchEnhancementProgramEOI2017Page5of12trip to a nature reserve, engagement with stakeholders especially school teachers, and scholarlypublications.Aesthetics is vital for engaging communities in their natural environments because it can generate anemotional and cultural commitment in a way that science and economics cannot easily solicit. However, theappeal to environmental aesthetics has tended to exalt landscapes that are pristine, without people, andto use imagery or messages that appeal primarily to specific socio-economic groups (eg, the well educated,affluent, and urban) while of less relevance to others, such as poorer, rural populations, disaffected youth,and sometimes Aboriginal communities.Because Australian society is deeply divided in how it values landscapes, we urgently need a moreinclusive and varied approach to reading aesthetic values in the environment (eg spiritual and historicvalues, and recreational benefits, in addition to ecological values). If environmental law and policy, and thepractices of environmental organisations, are to achieve broader community support, a more sophisticatedframework for assessing aesthetic values is needed to underpin environmental decisions.The project (in the UTAS-funded phase) collaborates closely with the Tasmanian Land Conservancy (TLC),the leading private land conserver in the state, to investigate how these challenges can be met through acase study of its Five Rivers Reserve in the central highlands. A community workshop and site-visit overtwo-days will involve academics, artists and local stakeholders to identify and evaluate a process forunderstanding environmental aesthetics, and to extrapolate how this can inform the work of organisationssuch as the TLC and government regulators such as the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Waterand Environment (DPIPWE).Thereafter, the project with external funding would be scaled up to include additional community-focusedcase studies in Tasmania and one mainland state, and partnering with a community nature conservationorganisation in that mainland state in order to develop a more comprehensive framework of relevance toother stakeholders across Australia.
- Funding
- University of Tasmania ($13,742)
- Scheme
- Grant - CALE Hothouse Alignment Scheme
- Administered By
- University of Tasmania
- Research Team
- Richardson BJ; MacDonald AJ; Hogan JM; Walch MB; Rees A
- Year
- 2018
The Derwent project: immersive digital media visualisations for the representational problems of complex and remote environments (2014 - 2016)$205,000
- Description
- The Derwent Project will create new ways to visualise the complex natural and cultural history of Tasmania's Derwent River system. This vast and often inaccessible environment includes Aboriginal and colonial heritage alongside ten hydroelectric developments. Its multiple layers of space and time present new opportunities to synthesise artistic and scientific paradigms of representation by drawing on geography, history, and archaeology. The outcome will be innovative forms of immersive time-based digital imaging that evocatively reveal hidden layers of environmental information to both specialist and general audiences.
- Funding
- Australian Research Council ($205,000)
- Scheme
- Grant-Discovery Projects
- Administered By
- University of Tasmania
- Research Team
- Stephenson DM; Walch MB
- Period
- 2014 - 2016
- Grant Reference
- DP140103735
Interpreting Ground Truth - Creating Immersive Time-based Representations that promote Public Engagement with Environmental Issued (2012)$14,000
- Funding
- University of Tasmania ($14,000)
- Scheme
- Grant-Research Enhancement (REGS)
- Administered By
- University of Tasmania
- Research Team
- Walch MB
- Year
- 2012
The Lake King William Project - Phase 2: An Ongoing Investigation into Environmental Change in the Upper Derwent Catchment (2010)$3,035
- Funding
- University of Tasmania ($3,035)
- Scheme
- Grant-New Appointees Research Grant Scheme (NARGS)
- Administered By
- University of Tasmania
- Research Team
- Walch MB
- Year
- 2010
Research Supervision
Current
5
Completed
12
Current
| Degree | Title | Commenced |
|---|---|---|
| PhD | Displacement, Repair, and the Painted Collage: A studio-based investigation of the precarity of home | 2018 |
| PhD | Bringing the Peripheries to the Centre/Places at the Edge of the World | 2019 |
| PhD | Reconstructing Femininity: A photographic enquiry into ideal representations of the female body | 2019 |
| Masters | Narrative focussed environmental documentary: A documentary film about the proposal to fly tourists into a standing camp on Lake Malbena in Tasmania's Wilderness World Heritage area | 2020 |
| PhD | Field Notes: The hidden art of documentation and its impact on cultural perceptions of place | 2020 |
Completed
| Degree | Title | Completed |
|---|---|---|
| Masters | On Unstable Ground: Painting navigation through the boulder-fields of Kunanyi. A local exploration of wildness and landscape through the lens of lostness and instability Candidate: Adrian Robert Bradbury | 2022 |
| PhD | Walking Contested Ground: Navigating settler colonial place through drawing and printmaking Candidate: Antonia Beatrice Clare Aitken | 2018 |
| PhD | Being There While You Are Here: An artistic study of blended presence shaped by new mobile technologies Candidate: Julien Charles Scheffer | 2018 |
| PhD | Wildness and Artefact: Re-presenting the divergent trajectories of Lakes Gordon and Pedder Candidate: David Ronald Bluhdorn | 2017 |
| Masters | Mirrored Resonance: Exploring an aesthetics of engagement Candidate: Susan Maria van der Beek | 2017 |
| PhD | Navigating the Unknown: Place, space and drawing Candidate: Annalise Rees | 2017 |
| PhD | Regarding the Savages: Visual representation of Tasmanian Aborigines in the 19th Century Candidate: Gregory Patrick Lehman | 2017 |
| PhD | The Sensation of Place: Translating the experiential sensation of a place through painting Candidate: Ann Holt | 2016 |
| Masters | Re-present to Reconnect: A Study of Natural Phenomena Candidate: Terence John Munday | 2013 |
| PhD | In the Shadow of Van Diemen's Land: A Visual Investigation into Phenomenological, Ontological and Experiential Representations of Places and their History Candidate: Damon Mark Bird | 2013 |
| PhD | Attention to Distraction: A Visual Investigation of Temporal Experience through Time-based Media Candidate: Raef Gilbert Sawford | 2013 |
| Masters | The Photography of Street Art as a Representation of Place Candidate: Jacob Eli Thomashow | 2012 |