Nila Shekarvand

Artist | Researcher | Lecturer in Visual Art and Design | University of Melbourne

Nila Shekarvand is a Persian Australian artist, researcher and lecturer whose practice explores how artistic making functions as a method of inquiry. Working across drawing, painting, textiles, installation, participatory art and arts-based learning, she investigates embodied knowledge, cultural memory, symbolic language and ecological relationships through creative practice.

Her research is grounded in a/r/tography, where the interconnected roles of artist, researcher and educator inform one another. Through studio-based practice and collaborative projects, she develops research-led inquiries that bring together material experimentation, storytelling and participatory methods to examine how visual art can generate new ways of knowing.

Alongside her creative practice, Nila teaches in visual art, design, visual communication and digital media in higher education. Her teaching encourages students to think critically and creatively through making, supporting the development of artistic practice as both creative expression and research. She has designed and facilitated interdisciplinary arts-based projects with university students, educators, researchers and community partners, creating opportunities for collaboration, reflection and imaginative inquiry.

Across both her artistic and educational practice, Nila is interested in how drawing, material and participation can cultivate curiosity, care and relational ways of knowing. Her work positions art not simply as the production of objects, but as a means of generating knowledge through making, facilitating and learning with others.