Taylor Hall is a curator, arts writer and project manager originally from Brisbane (Meanjin), Australia, now residing in London, UK.
As an independent curator, Taylor has worked on a diverse array of exhibitions at artist-run spaces, public galleries, and independent organisations across Australia and online.
Taylor's approach to her work within the creative industry is centred on her understanding that within her roles, she is uniquely positioned to be a conduit between artists, audiences, artworks, clients, and the community. In order to remain porous to adopting this intermediary role, Taylor approaches the vast array of her creative endeavours with the same rooting principles: promoting inclusive and accessible engagement, practicing empathetic communication, and fostering meaningful collaboration. It is with this mindset that she consistently strives to embrace, question, and maintain a sense of curiosity about the world around her.
About
Since 2018, Taylor has pursued a curatorial interest in materiality and its ability, highlighted within the context of an exhibition, to allow for more deeply personal, corporeal and empathetic experiences with art’s objects. Spring-boarding from her debut curatorial endeavour Hold, Everything, 2019 a show centred on the physical as well as psychological proximity and familiarity of material surfaces, (University of Queensland Art Museum), Taylor continued this research within Lotion, 2022 (Metro Arts). In this exhibition, Taylor honed her research focus onto embodied and soft forms to consider the materiality of healing, empathy, and well-being in relation to the skin. Further noteworthy projects include Occupy, 2022, a collaborative effort with the Australasian Students of Architecture Congress at Vacant Assembly (2022), and DEPART, 2020-21 at Onespace Gallery.
Taylor is currently pursuing her interest in immateriality as a method for understanding our fraught relationship with the elusiveness of digital spaces. This curatorial focus seeks to reorient conversations toward the user and the human desire to connect, to yearn, to be curious and to softly unwind, soothing our indulgent dives into the digital void. Similar to her exploration of materiality and corporeality, this new branch of research aims to provide an antidote to disconnection, the artificial and the nonhuman, bringing audiences back into their body.
Beyond her curatorial endeavours, Taylor is dedicated to diversifying her experience as an active and engaged member of the Australian arts community. Her work with Queensland’s major state gallery, QAGOMA, in the International Art department as a Curatorial Intern, 2021-22 demonstrates her interest in navigating institutional spaces. In this capacity, she contributed to the research and writing for major acquisitions, as well as performed curatorial administrative tasks for blockbuster exhibitions Air and Water.
Taylor also has extensive commercial experience. After working in distinguished galleries across Brisbane, including Jan Manton Gallery as Gallery Assistant (January 2018 - November 2019) and Gallery Manager (November 2019 - May 2022), and contemporary art consultancy and commercial gallery Onespace (October 2019 - January 2024). As Business Development Manager (Onespace Gallery), Taylor drove innovative business expansion strategies, and oversaw media and stakeholder outreach efforts. As Curator and Project Manager (Onespace Public) she assisted the creative direction and distribution of public art initiatives, notably a major public mural commission for Queensland Health’s adolescent treatment centre Jacaranda Place.
Additionally, Taylor possesses refined experience in managing participating commercial galleries in renowned art fairs, including SEA Focus Singapore and Sydney Contemporary, as well as assisting in the curation of major corporate collections, such as the Queensland Children’s Hospital, Gadens Lawyers and Morgan Stanley in both Sydney and Melbourne.
Following her selection as a participant in the 5th Edition of the Autumn School of Curating held in Romania, Taylor now acts as the Business Manager for the acclaimed London Architecture firm Lynch Architects and their affiliated publishing house, Canal Side Press.
