GINA FAIRLEY
Arts Journalist + Art Tour Leader + Curator + Jeweller
GINA FAIRLEY
Arts Journalist + Art Tour Leader + Curator + Jeweller
About Gina Fairley
Writing + Curating
Gina Fairley has straddled a 30-year career of across exhibition management, curating and arts journalism. Her early career was shaped by 14 years as an arts manager, starting out as Public Programs Manager for Wollongong Art Gallery (1991-1994), then Corporate Sponsorship and Events for Opera Australia (1994-1997). She moved to America and was Director of Operations for Haines Gallery, San Francisco (1997-2001), and on her return to Australia, stepped into the role of Exhibition Coordinator and Registrar for the Biennale of Sydney, eventually moving in to the role of Exhibition Manager (2002-2004).
For the next decade (2005-2014), Gina split her time living across Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Sydney working as a freelance writer and curator specialising in the contemporary art of Southeast Asia. She was Regional Contributing Editor of Asian Art News and World Sculpture News [Hong Kong], held the Editorial Desk for the Philippines at ArtAsiaPacific from 2007-08 and was Co-editor of their 2008 Almanac surveying Southeast Asia and the Pacific. In 2013 she joined ArtsHub as Visual Arts Editor – a position she held to early 2026, when she transitioned to Senior Contributor and working freelance.
She has curated exhibitions for UTS Gallery Sydney, La Trobe Visual Arts Centre Bendigo (Vic), TAKSU Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Ateneo Art Gallery (Manila, Philippines), MO_space in Manila, Yuchengco Museum (Manila), and Wollongong Art Gallery, including survey exhibitions for Mai Nguyen Long and Robert Robles, as well as over 100 exhibitions for the Sydney window gallery SLOT, which she co-founded and ran for 14 years.
Her passion across her broad career has been to celebrate the flourishing of art in the in-between spaces and to break down barriers by making art and design accessible to all.
Tour Leader
In 2026, Gina joined the team of Tour Leaders for the Art Gallery of NSW, with her inaugural International Study Tour to Mexico City and Oaxaca, guiding people on a journey through Mexican Modernism, the contemporary gallery scene, to traditional craft and artisans.
Due to its overwhelming success, she will lead her next tour Modern Mexico: passion, colour and creativity, for the Gallery in 9-21 March 2027. Bookings open. It will again dive deep into the incredible mural movement that shaped a post-Revolutionary Mexico, touch on Modernist architects part of this new moment, and head to Oaxaca to the heart of the crafts and textiles movement and its living legacy. The tour offers rare access to cultural treasures to hands on engagement with this creative landscape.
In 2028, she will host further exciting international tours with the Gallery, tapping her incredible knowledge. Destinations to be announced shortly.
Jewellery
In 2021 Gina co-founded the sustainable glass studio, Small Impact Studio with internationally renowned glass artist, Scott Chaseling, a project which they ran together until 2025. Emerging from that studio glass practice, in 2023, she created the brand OLIO Jewellery. OLIO means a miscellaneous collection of things – apt for her passion to mash up materials in a refined and bespoke way.
Gina studied under Silversmith Corinne Snare (Sturt Studio, Mittagong), glass lampworking with Kathryn Wardell (Bluedog Glass, Melbourne), and under the internationally celebrated glass artist, Scott Chaseling. She has undertaken specialist classes at The Bench jewellery studio in Sydney, and in 2026 undertook a masterclass with Mexican glass jewellery Luisa Restrepo.
Gina presented her first solo exhibition at Retford Park Bowral in 2024 and in 2025 was a guest judge for national award JMGA Profile at the Australian Design Centre, Sydney. In 2026, she was a recipient of the Dorothy Dwyer Silversmith Studio in a Bundanon Residency (NSW).
She says of her practice: "I consider myself a pragmatic maker, and embrace organic form and unconventional pairings over rigid technique. While my practice centres around a sustainability ethic, it is not what defines it. I’m interested in how reclaimed materials in contemporary jewellery can reframe how we think about design in our times. I love pairing the lightness of glass with the weightiness of rubber. I love that glass is both fragile and incredibly strong; that it feels indulgent but is also every day. I’m interested in how materials carry histories that pass from one to another, continued by the wearer. I love that jewellery can be an expression of our individuality, and yet, can hold silent sentimentality. "
Education + Lecturing
Gina was conferred her Master in Art Administration in 1996. She has presented guest lectures at the Art Gallery of NSW, University of Sydney, the National Art School Sydney, the La Trobe University Melbourne, the National Heritage Board Singapore, Ngununggula Art Gallery (NSW), and has presented courses in professional practice for artists for the Ateneo Art Gallery’s (University de Manila) as well as the National Art School.
She has been a guest judge of Salon de Refuse (2014), the Lester Prize (2023), and JMGA PROFILE (2025), Bundaberg Art Prize (2026), held a position on the board of SFMOMA Contemporary Extensions (1999-2001) and is a Founding Member of Sturt Gallery and Studios (NSW).
Contact GINA
Commissions + Conversations
Yes, I am available for commissions and projects. I look forward to starting a conversation with you - to explore how I can bring my years of experience in the arts sector to work for you.
Gina Fairley
PO Box 11 Mittagong NSW, Australia, 2575
