Image: Danica Cheetham
CONTACT: hello@bentupas.com
Ben Tupas is an artist, digital producer and educator based on Giabal, Jarowair and Western Wakka Wakka land (Toowoomba, Queensland). He is passionate about telling human stories with a strong sense of place.
Ben’s solo exhibitions Greetings From Eurasia (Crows Nest Gallery, 2022) and Mindanao Story Cycle (Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery, 2018) explored personal ideas about Filipino identity and family history through video and audio installation.
In June 2024, over five years of collaboration with artist Lisa Clarke was exhibited in Observational Correspondence (Rosalie Gallery) featuring postcards that captured everyday vignettes from regional Australia.
Ben was the Artistic Director of LIT Festival: Stories in Light (2018-2020), a biennial night festival that shares local stories through site-specific light projection and light sculptures.
His work has been seen and heard in The Guardian, Australian Audio Guide and at the international lecture series Creative Mornings.
In 2016, Ben co-founded Story Artist Run Collective (storyARC) an artist-run initiative for regionally-based digital storytellers with theatre artist Dr Sarah Peters.
Previously, Ben worked as a digital producer for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's innovative regional storytelling project ABC Open.
Through the ABC Open role, he produced work for TV, radio and online. In addition, Ben travelled to regional communities across southern Queensland to deliver digital media workshops.
EDUCATION
Bachelor of Design Studies (Graphic Design)
Queensland College of Art, Brisbane
Bachelor of Education (Primary)
Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane
SELECTED WORK HISTORY
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Education Queensland
Oh Darling Downs!
CLIENTS
Toowoomba Regional Council
Arts On Top/Western Downs Regional Council
Topology
Woodford Folk Festival
Condamine Alliance
First Coat Arts & Music Festival
University of Southern Queensland
Queensland Investment Corporation
Empire Theatre, Toowoomba
Kingaroy Art Gallery
Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery
theGRID hybrid arts collective
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Greetings from Eurasia, Crows Nest Regional Art Gallery (2022)
Mindanao Story Cycle, Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery (2018)
DUO EXHIBITIONS
Observational Correspondence, Lisa Clarke & Ben Tupas, Rosalie Gallery (2024)
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Compact Prints, Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts, Townsville (2024)
Fairholme Open Art Prize-FACETS, Toowoomba (2024)
Fill Your Eyes II, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba (2024)
Lethbridge 20000 Salon des Refusés, Lethbridge Gallery (2023)
Fill Your Eyes, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba (2023)
Small Works Art Prize, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne (2023)
All In: Artists of the Toowoomba Region, Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery, Toowoomba (2022/2023)
Supercut, Outerspace, Brisbane (2022)
Compact Prints, Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts, Townsville (2022)
Cthonica, Deathfest 2.0 Metro Arts, Brisbane (2018)
Entroducing, storyARC, Tooowomba (2018)
Colourfast, CUA Community Hub, Toowoomba (2017)
Night Blooming, Toowoomba (2016)
unFramed Festival, Coolum (2016)
Motion Capture Film Festival, Toowoomba (2016)
Faces of Toowoomba (2015)
The Very First Coat, MARS Gallery, Toowoomba (2014)
Memory Collective, Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery (2013)
3D: A Spatial Exploration, Metro Artist Run Space (2011)
TALKS
Creative Mornings Toowoomba, ‘Inclusive’, Toowoomba (2019)