Paola Balla

Paola Balla is a Wemba-Wemba and Gunditjmara woman serving as Lecturer and Researcher at Moondani Balluk Indigenous Academic Centre, Victoria University. She teaches Politics of Aboriginal Art in the Masters of Teaching program and Indigenous Specialisations, with over 20 years of experience in Indigenous studies and art education.

Her research focuses on:

• Contemporary Indigenous art and Aboriginal women's practices of resistance
• Black women's art/activism disrupting colonial narratives
• Art as sovereign expression of Blak matriarchy and First Nations epistemologies

Her publications critically examine colonial power structures in art institutions, Indigenous cultural heritage protection, and decolonial curation practices, consistently centering Indigenous sovereignty.

Awards include:

• Lisa Bellear Post Graduate Research Scholarship

She co-founded the Indigenous Arts and Cultural Program at Footscray Community Arts, serves on the Indigenous Advisory Group at FCAC, and co-edits with the Blak Brow Collective.