Artist receives scholarship to research human connections with wildlife
QUT PhD candidate and multidisciplinary new media artist Alinta Krauth has received the 2020 Dr Laurie Cowled Learning Potential Fund PhD Scholarship.
The interaction and exhibition designer and co-founder of artist collective, EphemerLab, is exploring how interactive art is fostering connections between humans and wildlife in regional Australia. Her thesis is titled Making-with the More-Than-Human.
Alinta said she was excited and humbled to be the recipient of this year's Dr Laurie Cowled Learning Potential Fund scholarship.
“Having an award that particularly seeks to help rural or remotely placed women through their higher education is vital, and even more-so in a year as tough as 2020 which has seen droughts, fires, floods, evacuations, and Covid-19,” she said.
Established in 2013 by donor and friend to QUT, Laurie Cowled, the Dr Laurie Cowled Learning Potential Fund PhD Scholarship aims to foster the careers of young Australian women and help them go on to make outstanding contributions to the future of Australia.
Laurie hopes that this scholarship inspires her recipients to aim higher, to follow their dream and know they are supported by someone eager to advance their cause.
Alinta’s career as a rural-based artist has allowed her the chance to explore ecological themes alongside ecology experts and wildlife rescue organisations, particularly since the 2019 SEQ bushfires.
“Interestingly, my connections to the land that I live on and the human/animal interactions in my local area have become central to my PhD project,” she said.
“So, in a way, none of this would have happened if I didn't live and grow up where I did.”
Her devotion to and focus on wildlife as a source of inspiration was evident with some recent volunteering at Bats QLD – a fruit bat aviary.
“These gentle animals are keystone pollinators who look after our rainforests and feed our koalas,” she said.
“If you see a flying fox on its own during the day please call your local wildlife rescue organisation, as it may be in trouble and needing help.”
Her previous digitally interactive works have been featured in places such as 'GentleMonster' Seoul South Korea, 'ZAZ10Ts Gallery' Times Square New York, 'The Powerhouse' Sydney Australia, 'Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule' Zurich Switzerland, and 'Art Laboratory Berlin' Berlin Germany. Recently published papers have appeared in 'The Sage Encyclopedia of The Internet' and 'Electronic Book Review'.
