ABOUT ME
Based in Asia for the past decade, Merryn Trevethan has recently returned to live in Naarm/ Melbourne.
Recent exhibitions include her solo exhibition Are We There Yet? at Linden New Art Project Space, Melbourne (2025); Postmodern Tales, curated by Vera Lam at H Queens, Hong Kong; Unfold City, Jockey Club Creative Arts Gallery, HK; and Superhuman Expedition, Artshub Studios, London. In 2023, Merryn collaborated with Singaporean artist Sebastian Mary Tay on Pixel Paradise, a 2 person exhibition at Comma Space, Singapore. In 2020, she exhibited Until Further Notice... a body of work she created during Covid lockdowns at HEARTH Artspace at Art Outreach Singapore. In early 2025, Merryn was Artist in Residence at Hong Kong International School where she created a collaborative mural with Upper Primary School Students. She also created a wall drawing during Art Week at HART Studios in Hong Kong, where she was a resident artist for 3 years. Merryn is a fellow of the Golden Art Foundation Residency Program, New York, 2018 and Red Gate International Artist Residency, Beijing, 2009.
Merryn was commissioned to create a mural for Australian Theatre for Young People, Sydney in their new space at Pier 2 Walsh Bay, Sydney in 2022. This project was shortlisted for the 2022 IDEA Interior Design Excellence Awards in the Public Space & Colour categories. In Singapore, she was commissioned to create murals for the Facebook Open Arts program at their APAC HQ offices in 2015, 2017 and 2020. In 2015 she was the winner of the DRIVE- Open Call Public Art Prize at Gillman Barracks in Singapore. Merryn was one of 10 artists and the co-curator of Bus.Stop.Art Public Art Project, commissioned by National Arts Council, Singapore for Singapore Art Week 2021 for which she secured a major project grant from NAC Singapore.
Merryn holds a Masters of Fine Arts (by research) from Monash University, 2005. She has held solo and group exhibitions in Australia, Singapore, USA, Hong Kong and China, including Town Hall Gallery; Five Walls; Trocadero Artspace; Wyndham Gallery, VIC; Australian High Commission, Singapore and Yeo Workshop, Singapore.
ABOUT MY WORK
Living in Asia for the past decade, my work has been inspired by the constantly changing structure of cities and considers the uncertainties of human perception in response to the built environment. Through paintings, site-responsive wall-drawings, objects and animations, often combined in installations, my works mirror the changing perspectives that shape a constant renegotiation of how we relate to our surroundings. I examine the influence of memory and technology on how we see, navigate, and record our experiences of the spaces we inhabit.
My process teases out how our perceptions of places change over time, evoking a spatial ambiguity that mirrors the dislocation of inhabiting both physical and virtual environments, inviting close consideration of the often-overlooked infrastructures - political, digital, climatic and social - that inform our perception of space, time and colour. My installations act as both an invitation to relate to and be critical of our surroundings and a reminder to find joy in the moment.