School of Art & Design

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Mumkurla-nginyi-ma parrngalinyparla - From the darkness into the light

Shanti Shea An hadn't planned to study art at ANU. But on her visit to the campus when she was in Year 12, that all changed. As Open Day was drawing to a close, she decided to head up to the heritage-listed art deco style building.

“When I entered the building, I felt like this was a place I could imagine myself being in for the next 3-4 years,” Shanti remembers. “It was a gut feeling.”

In following her gut, Shanti signed up for a double degree in Art and Visual Art. She soon devoted herself entirely to Visual Art, because she found there was just so much in it.

For me, ANU is something of a family affair. My parents met playing hockey on campus, my sister is an ANU alumna, and my grandfather was one of the first non-white migrants to come to Australia before the White Australia Policy was abolished. He was sponsored by ANU to come and be a Professor here, and he taught Islamic history, Sanskrit and Farsi, and all sorts of different things at the University for decades. This was one of the main reasons I decided to go to ANU - we have so many family connections there. In fact, I just got engaged to Charles Boettcher, who I also met at ANU.

By Evana Ho


When Josh Ophel speaks, he speaks with his whole body. A lot of people could be described this way, but with him it makes even more sense.

Australian Sign Language (Auslan) was Josh's first language. He's the eldest of five, and he and his siblings are CODA: Children of Deaf Adults.

Cara Dohnalek’s aunty taught her to embrace her difference. Cara did, and she hasn’t looked back since.

The Townsville native studied mathematics and science at high school, as well as Visual Arts. Her subject choices could’ve led her down the path of pursuing medicine or engineering at university, but engineering didn’t spark anything for her. And growing up with a physiotherapist mother and a surgeon father, she wanted to get as far from the health field as possible.

“I wanted to be different and follow my passions – art and maths,” Cara says.

A wetland on the Murrumbidgee River has been brought to life in a whole new way, thanks to an interactive website showcasing its unique inhabitants.  

The Sound of Water is a collaboration between researchers from The Australian National University (ANU), Charles Sturt University and the Commonwealth Environmental Water Office, and uses audio recordings to show how wetlands respond to an influx of water.  

Graduating students from the ANU School of Art & Design are finally able to showcase their works in the first in-person graduating exhibition since the pandemic started.  

With lockdowns and density limitations, the 2021 graduands missed out on making their artistic debut as the exhibition became an online affair.