Dani McKenzie’s practice stems from an interest in the culture and history of vernacular photography as a private inventory, the ways in which we identify with such photographs, and how these processes of identification might be reassessed through contemporary painting. Whilst in previous years she has utilised images from the past as source material for paintings, McKenzie has recently taken a more documentarian approach, working from her own photographs and personal observations. Blurring a boundary between private and public, objective and personal, McKenzie’s paintings offer a unique glimpse into the lives of others; shared experiences of place within a community, and private moments that happen in public spaces.
McKenzie graduated from the MFA program at the National Art School, Sydney in 2016. Since that time, she has held several solo exhibitions in Australia including: ‘Close to Home,’ Olsen Gallery, Sydney, Australia (2022); ‘Nowhere Near,’ MARS Gallery, Melbourne, Australia (2021); ‘Recognising Strangers,’ Olsen Gallery (2020); ‘Visions,’ MARS Gallery (2019) and ‘Seeing Seeing,’ MARS Gallery (2018). She has participated in several group exhibitions including ‘National Art-Part One,’ a touring exhibition of prominent alumni from the National Art School over 50 years (2018-2021), the ‘Paddington Art Prize,’ Sydney (2021), the ‘Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize,’ Victoria (2021), the ‘Blacktown City Art Prize,’ Sydney (2020), and the ‘Muswellbrook Art Prize,’ New South Wales (2020). In 2019, McKenzie was awarded the ‘Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize’ in Melbourne, and in 2017, she undertook a residency at La Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. McKenzie currently lives and works in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia.
Solo Exhibitions
– Field Notes, Olsen Gallery, Sydney NSW, 2025
– Ultra Romance, Long Story Short Gallery, Paris, France, 2024
– Window Watching, MARS Gallery, Melbourne Art Fair, 2024
– Room With a View, Long Story Short Gallery, Los Angeles, 2023
– Evening’s Empire, MARS Gallery, Melbourne VIC, 2022
– Close to Home, Olsen Gallery, Sydney NSW, 2022
– Nowhere Near, MARS Gallery, Melbourne VIC, 2021
– Recognising Strangers, Olsen Gallery, Sydney NSW, 2020
– Visions, MARS Gallery, Melbourne VIC, 2019
– Seeing Seeing, MARS Gallery, Melbourne VIC, 2018
– Mirror Image, MARS Gallery, Melbourne VIC, 2017
– TRACKS, Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney NSW, 2016
– Double Negative, Liverpool Street Gallery (LS2), Sydney NSW, 2016
Select Group Exhibitions
– Us (Part Two), The Hartz Project, Hong Kong, 2026
– Untitled Art Fair, Miami FL, 2025
– Us (Part One), NBB Gallery, Berlin Germany, 2025
– She Paints Her, MARS Gallery, Melbourne VIC, 2025
– Sydney Contemporary Art Fair, Olsen Gallery, Sydney NSW, 2024
– Romancing the Streetscape, Town Hall Gallery, Hawthorn, Melbourne, 2023
– A Female Gaze, MARS Gallery, Melbourne, 2023
– Sydney Contemporary Art Fair, Olsen Gallery, Sydney, 2022
– Sydney Contemporary Art Fair, Olsen Gallery, Sydney, 2021
– National Art - Part One, Maitland Regional Art Gallery, Maitland, 2021 – National Art - Part One, Glasshouse, Port Macquarie NSW, 2021
– National Art - Part One, Tweed Regional Gallery, Murwillumbah NSW, 2020
– Collectivus, Olsen Gallery, Sydney, 2019
– Sydney Contemporary Art Fair, MARS Gallery, Sydney, 2019
– Strange Paradise, Liverpool Street Gallery, Sydney NSW, 2019
– National Art - Part One, National Art School, Sydney NSW, 2018
– Summer Group Show, Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney NSW, 2018
– NotFair Art Fair, Melbourne, 2017
– 10, Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney NSW, 2017
– Identity, Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney NSW, 2016
Select Awards & Residencies
– Lennox St. Gallery Art Award, Lennox St Gallery, Melbourne VIC, finalist, 2025
– Mosman Art Prize, Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney NSW, finalist, 2023
– Paddington Art Prize, Defiance Gallery, Sydney NSW, finalist, 2021
– Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize, Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo VIC, finalist, 2021
– Blacktown City Art Prize, Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre, Sydney NSW, finalist, 2020
– The Lake Art Prize, Museum of Art and Culture, Lake Macquarie NSW, finalist, 2020
– Muswellbrook Art Prize, Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre, NSW, 2019
– WINNER of Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize, Bayside Gallery, Melbourne VIC, 2019
– Len Fox Painting Award, Castlemaine Art Museum, Castlemaine VIC, finalist, 2019
– Hornsby Art Prize, Wallarobba Arts and Cultural Centre, Sydney NSW, finalist, 2018
– Onslow Storrier Residency, La Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris (July - October), 2017
– Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize, Bayside Gallery, Melbourne VIC, finalist, 2017
– WINNER of the Nick Waterlow Award, Macquarie Group Emerging Artist Prize, Sydney NSW, 2016
– WINNER of the Belle ArtStart Prize, Sydney NSW, 2015
– WINNER of the Sydney Canvas Company Painting Prize, 2015