Meet: Rhanjell Villanueva (QLD) 💥

Rhanjell Villanueva recently graduated at Queensland University of Technology with a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) and a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Visual Arts) with Distinction in February 2021. In his time at QUT, he has led an artist run initiative Post Datum as the Vice President and won the Hilde Chenhall Memorial Award in the last semester of his studies. Villanueva’s passion for the creative arts and his deep involvement in the LGBTQIA+ community has also led him to be part of the queer collective Runway Movement and the ballroom house House of Alexander, both of which create opportunities and push for diversity and inclusion in the local queer scene in Meanjin.

What are you working on at the moment?

“At the moment, I’m very interested in investigating accounts of queer identities in the history of pre-colonial Philippines and how it influences the way we live and navigate in today’s society. The Babaylans and the ancient Baybayin, the etymology of ancient scriptures and practices that help piece together the missing pieces of interpersonal cultural connectivity.”

For twenty years Kickstart has worked with early-career artists, inspiring them to create their most ambitious work to date, presented at Next Wave Festival in Melbourne. Alongside our plans for 2022 and beyond, we reconsider and reinvent what our legacy commissioning and artist development program could be.

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Image 1: colour portrait of Rhanjell Villanueva