Hannah Barrett, Textile Conservator, National Gallery of Australia

I was very fortunate to receive the support of the Anna Plowden Trust  in 2006 and 2007, this enabled me to take up my place on the two-year MA Textile Conservation programme at the Textile Conservation Centre. The training and skills I gained, under the guidance of the experienced and knowledgeable staff of the TCC, enabled me to enter the textile conservation profession with confidence and enthusiasm.

Since graduating from the Textile Conservation Centre I have been working as a textile conservator at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. I have been involved with two major textile exhibitions at the NGA. ‘Life, Death and Magic: 2000 years of Southeast Asian Art’ which showcased 80 textile pieces from the NGA’s extensive and well regarded Southeast Asian textile collection, and secondly “Ballet Russes: The Art of Costume” exhibiting 120 costumes dating from 1909 to the 1940’s from the NGA’s world class collection of Ballet Russes costumes. I have also been involved in numerous permanent gallery changeovers including Southeast Asian Art and Costume, Fashion, International Art and the Children’s Gallery, of which the two shows I have been involved with were “Shimmer”, displaying visually stimulating objects such as the NGA’s Paco Rabanne chain-mail dress from the 1960’s, and most recently “Connections”, an exhibition of art works showing connection between Western and Islamic inspired art. I have also presented a number of papers on the textile conservation work done at the NGA covering the Ballet Russes and Southeast Asian collections.