I am a scholar, curator, educator and designer.
My research is at the inter-section of cultural anthropology- material and visual culture- and museum studies with specialisms in the anthropology of art and design, and the 21st century 'ethnographic' museum. I research and publish on the role of colours as carriers of thought in art and in everyday creative design practices, and colours as local ecology and time. My additonal current research include Australian Indigenous art and the market; the role of museum management in institutional policy and history; digital imaging of museum objects and intellectual property; collection ecologies and bio-cultural materials; research led exhibtiions and contemporary exhibition curation and design. I have a long-standing association with the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands (APY Lands) in South Australia where I carried out my doctoral fieldwork whilst a student at University College London, as part of the material culture group. I welcome doctoral students who wish to work on material and visual cultural research and musuem studies, or the interesction of these.
I have curated a number of research generated exhibitions including consultant curator for the 50th anniversary show of Ernabella Arts at Tandanya in South Australia, the retrospective of Kunmanara (Nyukana) Baker and, co-curated the touring show Art on a String with Object, and fifteen collaborative shows for the UQ Anthropology Museum.
I have directed the Master of Museum studies program at UQ for the last 5 years, commissioning a course in digital heritage and carrying out and implementing the recommendations of the academic program review. I continue to partner with GLAMs sector institutions for teaching and research. I am partnering with QAGOMA to collaborate on a new course about Learning and Outreach. I have taught Museum Theory and Practice, Collections, Museum Management, Exhibitions, Work Placement and convened the Masters Dissertation courses. Previously I taught Material and Visual culture and Museum Anthropology in the UQ Anthropology undergraduate program. I have taught at the Australian National University, Chelsea College of Art and University College London in the UK. I was first trained as an architect and worked in the UK construction industry as a designer and project manager.
As the first women to direct the UQ Anthropology Museum in its 75-year history I aimed to promote the work of women makers and artists in the museum’s collection and in the museum’s exhibition program. I am skilled at combining theory and practice, including teaching with objects, and at infrastructure implementation. I led the re configuring of the UQ Anthropology museum’s infrastructure transforming it back into a public institution with a rolling exhibition program generated by research of the museum’s collection. I led the creation of the first online publication of the collection to enable wide collection access. This included a purpose built digital catalogue and the creation and upload of more than 15,000 images of the cultural property cared for in the museum. The publication of the photographic collection in 2017 enabled these images can find new friends and family online. More than 60,000 people visited the UQAM’s new teaching, research and engagement facilities between 2012-2017. I raised more than AUS$1.1 million for the museum.
As an influential curator of anthropology, I am at the forefront of object centred teaching and learning for university and school students. I directed the creation of a new research and teaching infrastructure for the UQ Anthropology Museum and transformed it into a public institution with loans to many state galleries and museums and to local projects. See the online catalogue at http://catalogue.anthropologymuseum.uq.edu.au/ and exhibtions at http://anthropologymuseum.uq.edu.au/exhibitions/. These digital sites have been visited by people in 157 different countries globally (Google analytics June 2017).
Key Exhibitions
2016 Director of curation Solomon Islands; Re enchantment and the colonial shadow, UQ Anthropology Museum. http://www.anthropologymuseum.uq.edu.au/solomon-islands
2015 commissioned Wild Australia. Meston’s Wild Australia show 1892-1893 curated by Michael Aird and Mandana Mapar, research Paul Memmott UQ Anthropology Museum; http://www.anthropologymuseum.uq.edu.au/wild-australia. Toured to Grafton Regional Gallery 2016.
2014 written on the body commissioned and co curated with Judy Watson UQ Anthropology Museum; http://www.anthropologymuseum.uq.edu.au/written-on-the-body
2013 Musical Landscapes of Lihir, commissioned, developed, director of curation with Kirsty Gillespie and the Lihir Development Project, New Ireland province Papua New Guinea, UQ Anthropology Museum; http://www.anthropologymuseum.uq.edu.au/musical-landscapes-of-lihir
2012 In the red on the vibrancy of things director/curator UQ Anthropology Museum, commissioned work Fiona Foley, Miyarrka media; http://www.anthropologymuseum.uq.edu.au/in-the-red-on-the-vibrancy-of-things
2012 What do objects want? director/curator UQ Anthropology Museum; http://www.anthropologymuseum.uq.edu.au/what-do-objects-want and on line exhibtion; https://catalogue.anthropologymuseum.uq.edu.au/search/?q=what+do+objects+want.
2009 Nyukana Baker; A retrospective, curator at the Jam Factory Adelaide for SALA (South Australia Living Artists festival). Australia Council funded.
2001-2005 co curated Art on a String. Threaded objects from the Western Desert and Arnhem Land, Object centre of Australian craft and design touring show (venues included Object Gallery Sydney, Museum of Victoria, Bathurst regional gallery, NSW, Araluen cultural centre, Alice Springs, Tandanya cultural centre, Adelaide). Australia Council funded.
1998 consultant curator for Ernabella Arts Inc., ‘Warka irititja munu kwari kutu. Work from the past and the present a celebration of 50 years of Ernabella Arts,’ Tandanya Cultural Centre Adelaide
Young, Diana (2023). Tiwi Textiles: Design, Making, Process Tiwi Textiles: Design, Making, Process , by Diana Wood Conroy with Bede Tungutalum, Sydney University Press, Sydney, 2022, 360 pp., $120 (paperback), ISBN 9781743328637 : by Diana Wood Conroy with Bede Tungutalum, Sydney University Press, Sydney, 2022, 360 pp., $120 (paperback), ISBN 9781743328637. Journal of Australian Studies, ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print), 1-2. doi: 10.1080/14443058.2023.2270335
Journal Article: What do museum objects want? Re‐thinking photographic conventions in ethnographic museums
Young, Diana J. B. (2022). What do museum objects want? Re‐thinking photographic conventions in ethnographic museums. Visual Anthropology Review, 38 (1), 60-84. doi: 10.1111/var.12265
Journal Article: In the red: substances and materials in the Australian Western Desert
Young, Diana (2020). In the red: substances and materials in the Australian Western Desert. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 26 (2), 269-283. doi: 10.1111/1467-9655.13248
(2017–2018) National Library of Australia
Operationalising research collections in archaeological science and museum studies
(2015–2016) UQ Major Equipment and Infrastructure
Significance Assessment of the University of Queensland Anthropology Museum Photographic Collection
(2015–2016) National Library of Australia
Threadbare: the Bhutanese textile industry. Contemporary innovation in Bhutanese weaving and its translation to market
Doctor Philosophy
The Certainty of Dream in Suffering Objects: Navigating Affect and Objects in Anthropology
(2023) Doctor Philosophy
Creativity, practices, and place: The (re)creation of a transnational subculture
(2021) Doctor Philosophy
Rematerializing colour: from concept to substance
Diana Young ed. (2018). Rematerializing colour: from concept to substance. Canon Pyon, United Kingdom: Sean Kingston Publishing.
Solomon Islands: re-enchantment and the colonial shadow
Young, Diana (2017). Solomon Islands: re-enchantment and the colonial shadow. Brisbane, Australia: Anthropology Museum, The University of Queensland.
Strong women strong painting strong culture
Diana Young ed. (2014). Strong women strong painting strong culture. St. Lucia, QLD, Australia: University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.
Art on a string: Aboriginal threaded objects from the Central Desert and Arnhem Land
Hamby, Louise and Young, Diana (2001). Art on a string: Aboriginal threaded objects from the Central Desert and Arnhem Land. Canberra, ACT, Australia: Object-Australian Centre for Craft and Design, Australian National University.
Young, Diana J.B . (2019). The light is looking at us. James Turrell - night life. (pp. 53-63) edited by Rebecca Mutch. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: QAGOMA.
Young, Diana (2018). Color. International encyclopedia of anthropology. (pp. 330-360) edited by Hilary Callan. New Jersey, United States: John Wiley and Sons. doi: 10.1002/9781118924396.wbiea2210
Coloring cars: customising motor vehicles in the east of the Australian Western Desert
Young, Diana (2018). Coloring cars: customising motor vehicles in the east of the Australian Western Desert. Design anthropology: object cultures in transition. (pp. 147-159) edited by Alison J. Clarke. London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Academic. doi: 10.5040/9781474259071.ch-010
Colour as the edge of the body: colours as space-time in the east of the Western Desert
Young, Diana (2018). Colour as the edge of the body: colours as space-time in the east of the Western Desert. Rematerializing colour: from concept to substance. (pp. 145-164) edited by Diana Young. Wantage, United Kingdom: Sean Kingston Publishing.
Young, Diana J. B. (2018). Colour palettes and beauty. Anthropology and Beauty: From Aesthetics to Creativity. (pp. 148-165) edited by Stephanie Bunn. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315681566
Young, Diana (2018). Introduction. Rematerializing colour: from concept to substance. (pp. 1-21) edited by Diana Young. Wantage, United Kingdom: Sean Kingston Publishing.
Young, Diana (2017). Introduction. Solomon Islands: re-enchantment and the colonial shadow. (pp. 1-7) Brisbane, Australia: Anthropology Museum, The University of Queensland.
Young, Diana (2015). Introduction. Wild Australia. Meston's Wild Australia 1892-93. (pp. 2-3) edited by Michael Aird, Mandana Mapar and Paul Memmott. Brisbane, Australia: Anthropology Museum, The University of Queensland.
Colouring cars: Customising motor vehicles in the East of the Australian Western Desert
Young, Diana (2011). Colouring cars: Customising motor vehicles in the East of the Australian Western Desert. Design anthropology: Object culture in the 21st century. (pp. 117-129) edited by Alison J. Clark. Wien, Austria ; New York, U.S.A.: Springer.
Dingo scalping and the frontier economy in the north west of South Australia
Young, Diana (2010). Dingo scalping and the frontier economy in the north west of South Australia. Indigenous participation in Australian economies. (pp. 91-107) edited by Ian Keen. Australia: ANU E-Press.
Dressing the body in the Western Desert, Australia
Young, Diana (2010). Dressing the body in the Western Desert, Australia. Berg encyclopedia of world dress and fashion. (pp. 37-41) edited by Joanne Eicher. Oxford, United Kingdom: Berg. doi: 10.2752/BEWDF/EDch7007
Young, Diana (2006). The colours of things. The handbook of material culture. (pp. 173-185) edited by Christopher Tilley, Webb Keane, Susanne Kuechler, Mike Rowlands and Patricia Spyer. London: Sage Publications.
The life and death of cars. Private cars on the Pitjantjatjara Lands, South Australia
Young, Diana (2001). The life and death of cars. Private cars on the Pitjantjatjara Lands, South Australia. Car cultures. (pp. 35-59) edited by Daniel Miller. London: Berg Publishers.
Punu metaphors and markets- wood carving in the Ernabella area
Young, Diana (1998). Punu metaphors and markets- wood carving in the Ernabella area. Warka iritita munu Kuwari kutu. Work from the past and the present: a celebration of Fifty years of Ernabella Arts. (pp. 38-43) Ernabella, SA, Australia: Ernabella Arts .
Young, Diana (2023). Tiwi Textiles: Design, Making, Process Tiwi Textiles: Design, Making, Process , by Diana Wood Conroy with Bede Tungutalum, Sydney University Press, Sydney, 2022, 360 pp., $120 (paperback), ISBN 9781743328637 : by Diana Wood Conroy with Bede Tungutalum, Sydney University Press, Sydney, 2022, 360 pp., $120 (paperback), ISBN 9781743328637. Journal of Australian Studies, ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print), 1-2. doi: 10.1080/14443058.2023.2270335
What do museum objects want? Re‐thinking photographic conventions in ethnographic museums
Young, Diana J. B. (2022). What do museum objects want? Re‐thinking photographic conventions in ethnographic museums. Visual Anthropology Review, 38 (1), 60-84. doi: 10.1111/var.12265
In the red: substances and materials in the Australian Western Desert
Young, Diana (2020). In the red: substances and materials in the Australian Western Desert. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 26 (2), 269-283. doi: 10.1111/1467-9655.13248
Winifred Hilliard and the cultural brokerage of the Ernabella craft room
Young, Diana J. B. (2017). Winifred Hilliard and the cultural brokerage of the Ernabella craft room. Aboriginal History, 41, 71-94. doi: 10.22459/AH.41.2017.04
Young, Diana (2017). Focus on the exhibition. Oceanic Arts Society, 22 (1), 7-8.
Mutable things: colours as material practice in the north west of South Australia
Young, Diana (2011). Mutable things: colours as material practice in the north west of South Australia. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 17 (2), 356-376. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9655.2011.01684.x
Young, Diana (2011). Australia: William Blandowski's illustrated encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia by AllenHarry (Ed.) Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra, 2010, x + 176pp., ISBN 978 0 85575 713 7. The Australian Journal of Indigneous Education, 40 (1), 125-126. doi: 10.1017/S1326011100000181
On materiality - a review of two Australian exhibitions
Young, Diana (2006). On materiality - a review of two Australian exhibitions. Museum Anthropology, 29 (2), 133-139. doi: 10.1525/mua.2006.29.2.133
Water as country in the Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands South Australia
Young, Diana (2006). Water as country in the Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands South Australia. World Views: Environment, Culture and Religion, 10 (2), 239-259. doi: 10.1163/156853506777965839
The smell of greenness: cultural synaesthesia in the Western Desert
Young, Diana (2005). The smell of greenness: cultural synaesthesia in the Western Desert. Etnofoor, 18 (1), 61-77.
Young, Diana (2004). Review of Theories, technologies, instrumentalities of color: anthropological and historiographic perspectives by Barbara Saunders & Jaap van Brakel. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 10 (3), 707-708. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9655.2004.00208.x
The material value of colour: The estate agent's tale
Young, Diana (2004). The material value of colour: The estate agent's tale. Home Cultures, 1 (1), 5-22. doi: 10.2752/174063104778053572
Young, Diana (2019). On some street ecologies. Berlin, Germany: CARMAH Humboldt University.
Young, Diana (2018). The Anthropologist. Making Faces - A Jewellery Playbook. (pp. 33-33) Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Manon van Kouswijk.
Young, Diana (2017). On revealing and concealing. Songlines: tracking the seven sisters. (pp. 72-75) edited by Margo Neale. Canberra, ACT, Australia: National Museum of Australia Press.
Solomon Islands: re-enchantment and the colonial shadow
Young, Diana (2016). Solomon Islands: re-enchantment and the colonial shadow. Brisbane, Australia:
Young, Diana and Hardjo, Camella (2016). In the red. The University of Queensland. (Dataset) doi: 10.14264/uql.2017.569
Young, Diana (2015). Snake relations. Brisbane, Australia:
Young, Diana (2014). Strong Women Strong Painting Strong Culture. Indigenous women's art of the central and western deserts from the Simms Dickson Collection and the UQ Anthropology Museum Collection. Brisbane, QLD, Australia:
The University of Queensland Anthropology Museum 5 year report July 1 2009- June 30 2014
Young, Diana (2014). The University of Queensland Anthropology Museum 5 year report July 1 2009- June 30 2014.
Watson, Judy and Young, Diana (2014). Written on the body. St Lucia, QLD, Australia: The University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.
Written on the body and Gapuwiyak Calling opening event and curator talks
Young, Diana, Willcock, Jane and Strelan, Charla (2014). Written on the body and Gapuwiyak Calling opening event and curator talks. UQ Anthropology Museum:
Young, Diana (2014). How did we get here?. Strong Women Strong Painting Strong Culture. (pp. 7-12) edited by Diana Young. St. Lucia, QLD, Australia: University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.
Young, Diana (2014). The domestication of things. Written on the body. (pp. 1-3) edited by Diana Young. St Lucia, QLD, Australia: The University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.
Young, Diana (2014). Written on the body. St Lucia, QLD, Australia: The University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.
Women with clever hands past and present
Hamby, Louise and Young, Diana (2013). Women with clever hands past and present. St Lucia, QLD, Australia: The University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.
Gillespie, Kirsty, Lihir Cultural Heritage Association and Young, Diana (2013). Musical landscapes of Lihir. St Lucia, QLD, Australia: The University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.
Anthropology Museum Digital Collection
Young, Diana and Hardjo, Camella (2013). Anthropology Museum Digital Collection. The University of Queensland. (Collection) doi: 10.14264/uql.2017.25
Hector Burton Tjupuru. My Country
Young, Diana (2013). Hector Burton Tjupuru. My Country. NEWv: selected recent acquisitions 2011-2013. (pp. 34-35) edited by Ian Were. Brisbane, Australia: UQ Art Museum.
Young, Diana (2012). What do objects want?. Brisbane, QLD, Australia:
In the red, on the vibrancy of things
Young, Diana (2012). In the red, on the vibrancy of things. St Lucia, QLD, Australia: The University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.
Bill Whiskey Tjapaltjarri; rock holes and country near the Olgas’
Young, Diana (2012). Bill Whiskey Tjapaltjarri; rock holes and country near the Olgas’. New, v. 2: selected recent acquisitions, 2009-2011. (pp. 86-86) edited by Ian Were. St Lucia, QLD, Australia: The University of Queensland Art Museum.
The social life of things: UQ centenary exhibition
Young, Diana (2010). The social life of things: UQ centenary exhibition. St Lucia, QLD, Australia: The University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.
Double Up: Pasifika Treasure in the University of Queensland Anthropology Museum
Young, Diana (2010). Double Up: Pasifika Treasure in the University of Queensland Anthropology Museum. St Lucia, Qld, Australia: The University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.
Double up: Pasifika treasure in The University of Queensland, Anthropology Museum
Young, Diana and Willcock, Jane (2010). Double up: Pasifika treasure in The University of Queensland, Anthropology Museum. St. Lucia, QLD, Australia: The University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.
Young, Diana (2009). Nyukana Baker: Retrospective. Adelaide, Australia: JamFactory Gallery.
Art on a String. Aboriginal Threaded objects from the central desert and Arnhem Land
Hamby, Louise and Young, Diana (2001). Art on a String. Aboriginal Threaded objects from the central desert and Arnhem Land. Sydney, Australia: Object-Australian Centre for Craft and Design.
Young, Diana and Ernabella Arts artists (1998). Warka Irititja munu Kuwari kutu. Work from the past and the present. A celebration of Fifty Years of Ernabella Arts. Tandanya Cultural centre Adelaide:
(2017–2018) National Library of Australia
Operationalising research collections in archaeological science and museum studies
(2015–2016) UQ Major Equipment and Infrastructure
Significance Assessment of the University of Queensland Anthropology Museum Photographic Collection
(2015–2016) National Library of Australia
(2013–2016) ARC Discovery Projects
(2012) UQ Major Equipment and Infrastructure
The Mobile Museum: Digital 3D objects and participatory design in the Pacific
(2011–2013) UQ Collaboration and Industry Engagement Fund
Transforming Qualitative Research: Creating, preserving and re-using digital data
(2010) UQ Major Equipment and Infrastructure
Threadbare: the Bhutanese textile industry. Contemporary innovation in Bhutanese weaving and its translation to market
Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor
Other advisors:
How culture tunes technology and technology tunes cultures of healthcare: An ethnographic study of rural healthcare and the design and use of artificial intelligent (Ai) technologies
Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor
Other advisors:
The role of coffee culture in social transformation and agricultural development in Ethiopia
Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor
Other advisors:
The Certainty of Dream in Suffering Objects: Navigating Affect and Objects in Anthropology
(2023) Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor
Other advisors:
Creativity, practices, and place: The (re)creation of a transnational subculture
(2021) Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor
Other advisors:
(2015) Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor
Other advisors: