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About Us

The Drowning Collective formed in 2012 and consists of four artists; Sharon Billinge, Celeste Chandler, Erika Gofton and Ilona Nelson.

Sharon Billinge 
Sharon Billinge is an English born Melbourne based artist with a predominately drawing and painting based practice. Billinge is a current recipient of the Australian Postgraduate Award scholarship for her Masters research at VCAM and was awarded the KPMG tutorship award in 2009.



She has exhibited widely across Australia including recent solo shows at The Centre for Contemporary Photography, the Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts and WestSpace Gallery, Melbourne. Her work has been included in a number of high profile competitions including The Silkcut Award, The Bangkok Triennial and the City of Perth Art Award.

Billinge recently returned from a residency at the BlueCoat centre in Liverpool, England and has held residencies at The Arthur Boyd Trust property in NSW and the Nilumbikshire Laughing Waters Artists program in Victoria. 

Celeste Chandler 
Celeste Chandler is a Tasmanian born artist, based in Melbourne.  Her practice is concerned with the representation of the human body, autobiography and the language of painting.

Celeste has held numerous solo exhibitions and exhibited in many curated exhibitions and prizes throughout Australia.  She has twice been awarded an Elizabeth Greenshields Scholarship, won the R&M McGivern Prize for painting and the Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarship and has undertaken residencies in Australia and overseas.  Celeste has received an Australian Postgraduate Award and a Melbourne Research Scholarship and is currently completing a PhD at the University of Melbourne.



“My artwork explores the experience of embodiment - the intersection between the internal and external worlds that meet in the visceral sensations of the body – and, specifically, how this can be expressed in painting.  Painting, for me, is a romantic gesture and also one of brutality and disclosure.  It is a space to speak about aspects of experience that are difficult to articulate through other means.”

Erika Gofton 
Erika Gofton is a Melbourne based artist, working predominately with drawing and painting. Working with the figure she explores notions of fragility, balance and tension and aims to create works that encourage the viewer to breathe in the stillness. Erika Gofton has been running private Art Classes for adults since 2007. She also teaches drawing at the VCA in Melbourne.


Erika grew up in Hobart and has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and Diploma of Education (secondary) from the University of Tasmania. She has exhibited in numerous group shows and had solo exhibitions at Smyrnios Gallery, Dickerson Gallery, Frances Keevil, Schubert Contemporary, The Substation: Centre for Art and Culture, Anthea Polson and The Ballarat Regional Gallery. She has been a finalist in the EMSLA, Sunshine Coast Art Prize, Mosman Art Prize, R & M McGivern Prize, Redland Westpac Art Prize, twice in the City of Albany Art Prize (winning peoples choice), and 6 times selected in the Williamstown Contemporary Art Prize. In 2012 Erika won the $10,000 Toyota Community Spirit Travel award and will undertake a residency in New York in 2013.

Ilona Nelson 
Ilona Nelson is a photographic and new media artist who has a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree with distinction.  She has exhibited extensively and been selected in numerous prizes throughout Australia including The Sunshine Coast Art Prize, Tattersall’s Contemporary Art Prize and The Flanagan Art Prize. Ilona works predominately with photography but also incorporates film, performance and installation.  Her imagery has been featured in many publications including The Age, frankie and Harper’s Bazaar Australia.

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