Liz Nowell

Liz Nowell is a curator and cultural leader whose practice is shaped by collaboration, relationality, and care ethics. She is Executive Director of Arts Project Australia, a leading visual arts organisation that supports neurodivergent artists and champions their inclusion in the contemporary art sector. Throughout her two-decade career in Australian and international contemporary art, Liz has led prominent public galleries and cultural organisations, including the Institute of Modern Art (IMA), Adelaide Contemporary Experimental (ACE), and the Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia.

As founding Director of ACE, she curated notable exhibitions such as Rainbow Serpent (Version): Daniel Boyd (IMA), Yhonnie Scarce: Missile Park (co-curator, IMA and ACCA), Making Art Work (IMA), and Next Matriarch (co-curator, ACE and Koori Heritage Trust). Liz has written for major publications by Phaidon, Art Gallery of South Australia, National Gallery of Australia and Art + Australia, as well as edited numerous artist monographs and readers including This language that is every stone (2022, IMA and Koenig Books), co-edited alongside Hans Ulrich Obrist, Asad Raza, Olivia Fairweather, and Warraba Weatherall.

Before her executive leadership roles, Liz held curatorial positions at UNSW Art & Design, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, Tandanya, and safARI, where she co-curated the 2014 festival.

She currently serves on the Board of the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA). Her work has been recognised through multiple grants, including a New Work Grant and Early Career Residency Grant from Creative Australia, and a Dame Joan Sutherland Foundation Grant, and previously she was named one of South Australia’s 40 Under 40 business leaders by Indaily. In 2023, she was awarded an Australian Progress Fellowship and undertook a residency at the International Studio and Curatorial Program in New York.