Gillian Richards is a conceptual language artist based on Bullongin country, on Australia’s Gold Coast. Moving fluidly between three-dimensional space, printed and painted surfaces, and artist book forms, she uses original text and narrative poetry to explore the complexities of humanity—investigating personal and collective responses to societal friction and an Earth in crisis.

Originally from Melbourne, a profound period of realignment shaped her path between 2015 and 2018. A severe battle with illness necessitated leaving teaching, providing the vital space to step away from external noise, uncover her authentic identity, and channel her energy entirely into her art. Working from her Gold Coast studio, Richards uses strategies of beauty and visual choreography as a hook to invite viewers off the contemporary treadmill—revealing an ‘other’-centred perspective that exposes our absolute interdependence.

Richards began exhibiting in Brisbane in 2021 (Table 21) and has been selected for the Recovered Futures art exhibition for five consecutive years. In 2023, her collaborative exhibition Walk gently at Logan Art Gallery resulted in a work being acquired for the permanent Logan Art Collection. She has exhibited regionally with the Migaloo Press Artists Collective—including Botanica: From Earth to Sea at Lockyer Valley Regional Gallery (2025) and the landmark 2026 contemporary survey Where do I belong? at Logan Art Gallery, staged alongside prominent national and state artists—and nationally, with bookworks selected for Between the Sheets: Artists’ Books in Perth and as a finalist in the Crescendo Artist’s Book Award in NSW (2025). Her 2026 projects also include the curated group exhibitions FRIENDS at Petrie Terrace Gallery and The Line and Rail Artspace. Following this exhibition season, her practice moves toward biographical portraiture—bypassing literal visual appearance to map the invisible essence, interior landscape, and recorded histories of the individual.