Isobel Morphy-Walsh

Isobel Morphy-Walsh is an Indigenous Australian artist, weaver, and storyteller. Her work focuses on First Nations narratives, and she has received several notable commissions, grants, and awards throughout her career.

Biography Morphy-Walsh is described as "a proud Nirim Baluk woman from the Taun Wurrung (Taungurung) people." She is a multi-disciplinary artist and storyteller who uses different mediums and formats to weave stories into both performance and visual art. She is also a weaver, curator, producer, activist, and educator who has spent much of her life working with her community. Her work has a strong and deliberate focus on First Nations narratives, protecting and promoting Indigenous peoples and language, and emphasising the significance of history, culture, and country. She comes from a family of storytellers and weavers, and some of her work has involved family collaborations, including with her father Uncle Larry Walsh, who was part of the Stolen Generation. Morphy-Walsh is a Board member of the Taungurung Land and Waters Council (TLaWC), the corporate representative body of the Taungurung people. In July 2024, Morphy-Walsh was included in Creative Heathcote, a booklet showcasing the work of creatives living in the Heathcote region.

Morphy-Walsh has worked for museums and galleries, engaging in curatorial work that focuses on Victorian First Nations cultures, communities, histories, art, expressions, stories, and engagement. She supports the need to decolonise cultural heritage institutions, particularly through the treatment and interpretation of artworks, objects, and images, histories and narratives, with a focus on the communities they come from, and approaches taken in development. Isobel embeds the values of her culture and ancestors in all that she does. In 2021, she also joined the Board of Management of National Exhibitions Touring Support (NETS) Australia. This is the national network committed to the delivery of best practice touring exhibitions of contemporary visual culture to remote and metropolitan communities throughout Australia.

Morphy-Walsh is a contributor to Blak & Bright's Black Stories Hub, an initiative that is supported by the Australian Government through Creative Australia. Blak & Bright is Australia's leading organisation for presenting and promoting First Nations literary voices, through festivals and other events. Her reading, Truth Telling and Treaty, was delivered on 15 June 2024.

Selected works

Acknowledgement of Country Shadow Sculpture - This work is on prominent public display. It was installed at Barrack Reserve on High Street in Heathcote in 2022, where it is lit up every evening from 6pm. The City of Greater Bendigo, in consultation with TLaWC and Morphy-Walsh worked together to commission and create the piece. The production examined the creation stories and myths that make us who we are. A stationary observation exhibit was part of this production. Gunawarra: Re-creation - Morphy-Walsh was commissioned by Ilbijerri to write this work which was her first solo play. It was performed by the Ilbijerri Theatre Company at Southbank's Lawler Theatre in Melbourne in late 2024. This play is a contemporary creation work based on passed down Taungurung stories that have been passed down, and was part of Ilbijerri and MTC's presentation of Blak in the Room. It looks at the continuation of creation and the stories of Blak women healing.