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About Me

Peta Tranquille is an, award winning, multidisciplinary artist based in Melbourne, originally from Perth and raised on farms in the Western Australian wheatbelt. Her early years, shaped by rural life and long family road trips across Australia, sparked a lifelong curiosity about place, observation, and the overlooked details that surround us. These formative experiences continue to influence her practice, which is grounded in structure, subtlety, and quiet acts of observation.**

 

Before formally studying art, Peta spent over 30 years working in the field of cartography. This career fostered a meticulous attention to detail and a distinctive spatial awareness that continues to inform her creative process. The clarity and discipline of mapping systems echo in her use of repetition, modular forms, and grid structures—devices through which she investigates memory, perception, and disconnection.

 

Central to Peta’s practice is her experience of living with Aphantasia—a neurological difference that prevents her from forming mental images or reliving past events. Without the ability to visualise, she turns to physical materials and process-based approaches to make sense of memory and experience. Her works often act as visual archives—attempts to piece together what cannot be recalled, using fragments, systems, and intuitive structure to reconstruct a personal narrative.

 

While completing her Fine Art degree, Peta faced significant challenges navigating traditional teaching methods that often relied on mental visualisation. Through persistence and adaptation, she developed new strategies that not only supported her learning but ultimately enriched her creative practice. You can read more about her journey and how she overcame these challenges by clicking here.

 

Working across photography, painting, drawing, and sculpture, Peta frequently incorporates analogue materials such as film slides, archival images, and handwritten text. These elements offer a way to externalise what is internally absent. Her recent works explore the tension between what is known and what is lost, creating poetic reflections on memory’s fragility and the urge to preserve meaning in the face of its erosion.

 

During Melbourne’s 2020–21 lockdowns, Peta began documenting her walking routes through photographs taken on her iPhone. What started as a personal routine became a deeper exploration of footpaths, painted surfaces, and the unnoticed marks left in urban space. These images reflect her enduring curiosity and her belief that meaning can be found not just in grand gestures, but in the quiet persistence of everyday life.

 

Peta’s art invites viewers to look closer, to consider what slips past us, and to reflect on how we record, remember, and make sense of the world—especially when the act of remembering itself is compromised.

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A portrait of Peta Tranquille
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Cloud Cover - Peta Tranquille_edited.jpg
Education

2021-2024

Fine Art Degree, with distinction
Curtin University, WA

1988-1993

Diploma in Cartography

Wembley TAFE WA

During the three years of full-time study I received several Letters of Commendation and was included on the Vice Chancellor's list for academic excellence. 

A comprensive Diploma involving the process of map mapping, land registration and mathematics involved in the Cartographic and Surveying industries.

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Awards, Prizes and Achievements

2025

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Winner - Most Outstanding Contribution - Kindred Camera

First Prize - Andor Meszaros Sculpture Prize at the Assoc of Sculptors Vic Annual Awards

Finalist - Feel Good Art Prize

Finalist - Newstead Small World Sculpture Prize

Finalist - Gippsland Sculpture Exhibition

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2024

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Finalist - West End Art Space - Biennial of Colour and Light

Letter of Commendation for Academic recognition  - Curtin University

Achieving 98% for final project in Fine Arts - Curtin University

 

​2023

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Finalist - EGAG WRAP Small Artworks Prize

Letter of Commendation for Academic recognition  - Curtin University

Membership to Vice Chancellors List - Curtin University

Finalist - Maldon Landscape Prize

Finalist - Biblio Art Prize - Port Fairy

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2022

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Letter of Commendation for Academic recognition  - Curtin University

Finalist - Mission to Seafarers Art Prize - Melbourne

Finalist - Biblio Art Prize - Port Fairy

Academic Excellence Award - Curtin University

​Finalist - Kenneth Jack Memorial Prize - AGRA

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2020

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Finalist - Biblio Art Prize

Peoples Choice Award Winner - Southern Buoy Studios Landscape Prize

Finalist - Southern Buoy Studios Landscape Prize

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2019

Founded MAVA Inc (Melbourne and Victorian Artists)

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A painting that was a finalist at the Maldon Landscape Prize in 2023
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Exhibitions

2025
 

Kindred Camera Gallery - Lost and Found - Docklands

Winter Days - Off The Kerb - Collingwood

Annual & Award Exhibition - Association of Victorian Sculpture - VAS, East Melbourne
Small Wonders - Red Galley - Fitzroy North
Impressions of Place - Hawthorn Town Hall - MAVA, Hawthorn
Local Inspiration - Melbourne and Beyond - Ladder Art Space Gallery - Kew
Acheron Sculpture Exhibition - Alexandra 

Newstead Small World Sculpture Prize - Newstead 

Gippsland Sculpture Exhibition - ARC Yinnar 
Small Works Art Prize - Brunswick Street Gallery, Brunswick 

2024
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Award Show - Off The Kerb - Collingwood
Linden Postcard Show - St Kilda
Biennale of Colour and Light - West End Art Space- West Melbourne
Seeing is Believing - Quadrant Gallery - Hawthorn​​


 
​2023
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Maldon Landscape Prize - Edge Galleries - Maldon
Biblio Art Prize - Port Fairy
Art That Transforms - Quadrant Gallery - Hawthorn
Linden New Art Postcard Show - Linden New ART- St Kilda
EGAG WRAP Small Artworks Prize - East Gippsland Art Gallery - Bairnsdale
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2022
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REDROSPECTIVE - Red Gallery - Fitzroy North
WOMEN* NOW Exhibition - Queen Victoria Women Centre - Melbourne
Mission to Sea Farer's Art Prize 2022
Kenneth Jack Memorial Drawing Prize - AGRA, Camberwell
 
2021
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At Sea - Southern Buoy, Mornington
SBS Landscape Prize - Southern Buoy, Mornington
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2020
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You Are Here - International Online Exhibition
STRUCTURE - in.cube8r, 321 Smith Street, Fitzroy
Passage of Time - AGRA Gallery, Camberwell
Stockland International Women's Day - Pines Shopping Centre, Doncaster East
Frida - Mream Studios - Maidstone 
 
2019
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Manifest - 345AC Gallery, Mont Albert
Linden New Art Postcard Show - St Kilda
SMALL - Group Exhibition - Forty Five Downstairs
VCA Short Courses Exhibition - Artspace VCA, Southbank
VAS Portrait - Melbourne
Vitroform – Lord Coconut, Melbourne
Walk In The Park – Manningham Gallery
Urban Tropes – Solo Exhibition – Art at St Francis, Melbourne
Well Red - Mream Studios - Maidstone
Two Cents Worth – No Vacancy Gallery
smART – Track Gallery, Mount Waverley
Square-Circle? - Black Cat Gallery, Collingwood
 
2018
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Linden New Art Postcard Show – St Kilda
SMALL – Fortyfive Downstairs - Melbourne
Works on Paper – Orange, NSW
Not To Scale: Mapping Memories in Colour - Solo Exhibition - The Stockroom - Ringwood
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2017
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c ART ographic -Solo Exhibition - Brunswick Street Gallery, Fitzroy
 
2016
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Pop Art - Group Exhibition - ArtBoy Gallery - Prahran​

A photo of Peta Tranquille and her adult son at an exhibition opening, with a pinting on the wall behind them
Cartographic Career

Nov 2005-Feb 2016

Self Employed

 

Duties Include;

All work associated with the Lands Department and Department of Planning in Western Australia

  • Preparation of Deposited Plans, Survey Strata and Strata Plans 

  • Preparation of Surveys Sheets

  • Creation of CSD files, including more complex types

  • Preparation of Site, Feature, Contour and Regional Development Plans

  • E-lodgement preparation and lodgement

  • Legal Plan Audit

  • Preparation of Gross Net Lettable and other miscellaneous Plans

  • Maintenance of business network and IT

  • Website development and updates

  • Custom Art

 

 

Apr 2004–Oct 2005

McMullen Nolan & Partners Surveyors WA

Cartographic/Computing Team Cartographer/Graphic Designer

 

Duties Included;

  • Preparation of Sales Plans for Real Estate companies

  • Updating and maintaining the Satterley Web Page

  • Updating 3D terrain models of estate area

  • Creating furnishings such as trees for 3D Terrain models and adhering to base

  • Designing logos and layout of sales plans and other miscellaneous plans

  • Assisting with satellite imagery projects

  • Creating sales plan overall bases from engineering and other service plans

  • Providing Microstation and technical support to my team, and others, as required

  • Printing and collating sales plans for clients

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Apr 1998-Mar 2004

Department of Land Information Statutory Services

Senior Cartographic Officer

 

Duties Included;

  • Preparation of Deposited Plans for Pastoral Leases and Easements.

  • Preparation of DP’s for Townsites, Port Authorities, Marine Parks and State Forests

  • Auditing of Crown DP’s containing unsurveyed information

  • Writing of technical descriptions for Local Authorities, Town- sites and Port Authorities

  • Major involvement with Pastoral Exclusion Project for the Minister.

  • Solving complex mathematical closes

  • Providing Microstation, CSD and other technical support to my team, and others, as required

  • Preparation of Concept Plans

  • Thorough investigative research and testing for E-Lodgement, in- cluding onsite evaluation and support forthe Survey Industry

  • Searching and collation of survey information from DLI databases

  • Manual drafting amendments and colour washes, when required.

  • Preparation of Certified Plans to be presented as evidence in court

  • Supervision and support for less experienced staff members

  • Preparation of 3 dimensional easement plans for Forrest Place

 

1992–1998

Department of Land Information Freehold Plan Registration Senior SurveyExaminer

 

Duties Included;

  • Full Audits of Freehold surveys, including preparation of alignment sketches and field book examination

  • Major role in assisting the survey industry with introduction of CSD files

  • Performing complex mathematical closes including easement sketches

  • Resolution of mathematical closes that were not within allowable limits

  • Manual drafting amendments and colour wash applications

  • Investigative searching of DLI resources for required survey information

 

1988–1990

Department of Land Information Cartographic Services CartographicDraftsperson

 

Duties Included;

  • Preparing and maintaining Public Plans, involving manual drafting and extensive colour washes

  • Updating and maintaining DLI’s Spatial Cadastral Database

  • Assisting in the Pastoral Ranglelands Project

three dimensional model of a land subdivision
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Bulleen, Victoria, Australia

Website created by Peta Tranquille with Wix.com

Peta Tranquille is always open to Art Commissions and welcomes your enquiry.

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