Lecturer Samantha Edwards-Vandenhoek

• Biography
• Areas of Research / Teaching Expertise
• Grants / Current Projects
• Awards and Recognition
• Publications
• Memberships and Engagement
  
• Contact Details

 

Biography

Samantha Edwards is a graphic designer, photographer and lecturer in visual communication. She is the program coordinator of the AGDA award winning fourth year professional student design studio ‘Rabbit Hole’. Samantha has a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) degree from the University of Sydney and Diploma of Design from Billy Blue School of Graphic Arts. She has extensive industry experience, working as a designer for two of Sydney’s leading branding consultancies – Billy Blue Creative and EKH Design. Samantha has guest lectured at Billy Blue and Parsons School of Design in Paris. As a photographer she exhibits her work widely both in Australia and Europe and is represented in Paris by Galerie Emotion.

Samantha is currently in the final weeks of her PhD candidature in media and communication studies at the University of Western Sydney. Her thesis is entitled Graffiti Archaeography: The poetics of engagement in Sydney’s inner suburbs. This practice-based research engages with the material traces of graffiti and urban art practices from inner Sydney’s recent urban past. It is an attempt to map, frame, decipher and archive the tensions and dialogues embedded in the differentiated traces of illicit graffiti production to further insights into the relationship between place and cultural practice. For further information please visit www.sydneygraffitiarchive.com.au.

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Areas of Research / Teaching Expertise

Graphic Design
Design for Social Change
Graphic Agitation
Graffiti Studies
Material Culture Studies
Documentary Photography
Contemporary Archaeology

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Grants / Current Projects

PhD candidate 2006-2011

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Awards and Recognition

2011  Vice Chancellors Professional Development Scholarship / University of Western Sydney

2010  Highly Commended / Gordon Andrews Scholarship, AGDA

2009  Finalist / Hazelhurst Art On Paper Award / Hazelhurst Regional Gallery

2008  Student AGDA award for Rabbit Hole visual branding (supervising lecturer)

2006  Commended / Vice-Chancellor’s Excellence Awards / University of Western Sydney

2006  Distinction / AGDA National Design Awards

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Publications

2011 Edwards, S. Behind Closed Doors: An analysis of graffiti writings in situ from Sydney’s recent urban past.
Whitehouse, R. (ed), Materiality of Writing, Institute of Archaeology Series. Left Coast Press.

2006  Cunningham, D. Shelf Life. Exhibition Catalogue. MOP Gallery Projects

2005  Edwards, S. Imprints: All That We Leave Behind. Empty Magazine, Issue 4.

2004  Featured photographer. Creative Photography Series 08, Australian Creative, Dec.

2001  Featured designer. AD News, Dec.

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Memberships and Engagement

AGDA member since 2008.

Coordinator of the AGDA award winning UWS fourth year design work integrated learning unit – Rabbit Hole (101883 Professional Design Studio). This studio services a range of internal and external clients, local bodies and community organisations such as TVS, Western Sydney Public Transport Users, RMIT University, The Dept of Music, Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre and UWS Equity & Diversity.

Down the ‘Rabbit Hole,’ students get the opportunity to work on ‘real life’ industry projects. Students are required to develop, through directed and focused research, a response to a given creative brief from the client as a ‘junior designer.’ A number of briefs are offered each semester and each student is allocated a role, based on their existing expertise and areas of interest in working with specific media and communication fields.

For more information please visit www.commarts.uws.edu.au/rabbithole

 

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