Dr Elly Kent

Elly has worked as a researcher, writer, translator, artist, teacher and intercultural professional and has more than 20 years’ experience in academia and the arts in Indonesia and Australia.

She gained a double degree in Asian Studies (Specialist Indonesia) and Visual Arts (Hons) and a PhD in the same fields from ANU. She is the author of Artists and the People: Ideologies of Indonesian Art (2022) NUS Press, and co-editor (with Virginia Hooker and Caroline Turner) of Living Art: Indonesian Artists Engage Politics, Society and History (2022) ANU Press.

Elly’s research focuses on contemporary and historical art practices in Southeast Asia, and especially in Indonesia. She is interested in the intersection between social change, politics and art practice and her primary research looks at participatory practices and ideologies in Indonesian art.

Elly employs interdisciplinary methodologies from art history, ethnography, practice-led research, archival research and philosophy to understand what motivates artists to work with people in their creative practices. She also works as a translator, and teaches Indonesian language and Asian art and design history.