A woman with blond curly hair lying on a gray floor, resting her head on a globe-shaped paper mache object painted with landscape scenery, smiling and looking at the camera, with a light gray wall in the background.

Aoife Billings is an interdisciplinary Irish-Australian artist currently undertaking a Masters of Fine Art at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. Her work spans installation, video, sculpture, oil painting, and ceramics, with a focus on non-linear time and the Otherworlds within Irish mythology. She investigates these myths and their links to the revelations of quantum mechanics — discoveries that disrupt the contemporary understanding of an external, objective reality.

Billings began her creative practice at age 16 with Bats of Leisure, an art collective she co-founded with her brother Aaron Billings. Together they created handmade art clothing and art films, and conducted public workshops in embroidery while exploring feminist dialogues.

During her Bachelor of Fine Art at RMIT University, she participated in user-interactive knitwear production research. In 2018, she co-founded Pink Ember, an Artist Run Initiative fostering collaborative art-making, skill-sharing, and creative exploration for 22+ artists. Over the past seven years, her role as a Pink Ember director has been pivotal to her fine art practice, driving her research into social practice and relational art, while providing both a platform for her own work and a studio in which to make it.

Billings deeply values and actively pursues unconventional modes of learning. Her work has been prominently featured in numerous group exhibitions, and in 2023 she presented her debut solo exhibition at Off The Kerb Gallery in Collingwood.

Education

Current | Master of Fine Art, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

2019 | Bachelor Fashion Design and Technology, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

2017 | Associate Degree in Fashion Design and Technology, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

2014 | Bachelor of Arts/Visual Arts, Monash University

2014 | Curatorial Program, Signal Arts (City of Melbourne)

Professional Practice

2018 - Current | Founding Director, Events & Workshops Manager, Pink Ember Studios (ARI, Non-For Profit)

2014 - Current | Workshop Provider, Ceramics Teacher, various councils & studios

Select Solo Exhibitions

2025 | Beochaoineadh, Pink Ember, Coburg VIC

2024 | Process, Pink Ember, Coburg VIC

2023 | Blow Up, Off the Kerb, Collingwood VIC

Select Group Exhibitions

2025 | Dreams and Nightmares, Artemisia, Windsor VIC

2023 | Backw13ds, Backwoods Gallery, Collingwood VIC

2021 | A Droplet of Dew on her Glittering Web, Tinning St Presents, Brunswick VIC

2014 | Soft, Fort Delta, Melbourne VIC

Select Curation

2024 | Pipes, Pink Ember, Coburg VIC

2024 | Annual Great Queer Pottery Throwdown, Pink Ember, Coburg VIC

2023 | Annual Performance Night, Pink Ember, Coburg VIC

2023 | Thas Mento Illness Luv, Platform Arts, Geelong VIC

2022 | Best Dressed, Schoolhouse Studios, Coburg VIC

Grants & Awards

2023 - 2024 | Merri Bek Capital Works Grant, secured on behalf of Pink Ember Studios

2023 - 2024 | Merri Bek Flourish Grant, secured on behalf of Pink Ember Studios

2022 - 2023 | Merri Bek Capital Works Grant, secured on behalf of Pink Ember Studios

2022 - 2023 | Merri Bek Flourish Grant, secured on behalf of Pink Ember Studios

Commissions & Presentations

2024 | Research Presentation: Speaking to Pictures, Hellenic Museum. link

2024 | Contributing Artist: Flowing Loops - Dan Koop, Deakin University. link

2018 | The Round Table: Embroidery Workshops with Bats of Leisure, Australian Centre of Contemporary Art (ACCA). link