Dolla Merrillees is a writer, curator and lead cultural strategist working across fashion, museums and contemporary art. Formerly Director of the Powerhouse Museum, she has developed major exhibitions and projects spanning historical and contemporary practice.
She was Director of Western Sydney Creative at Western Sydney University, where she oversaw the development of major research reports on the creative industries, including State of the Arts in Western Sydney and Unleashing Creativity: Strategies for Growing Western Sydney’s Creative Industries.
Her writing includes exhibition catalogues, artist interviews and critical essays, with a particular focus on object biography, memory and the cultural life of collections. She is the author of The Woodcutter’s Wife and a contributor to The Spoken Object.
She has presented and moderated talks internationally for institutions including the Sherman Centre for Culture and Ideas, the The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre and ICOM COMCOL, and is currently completing a PhD examining museums, collections and the narratives objects carry across time and place.