Helen Hopcroft, Australia

Helen Hopcroft is an artist, performer and writer. She holds a Masters degree in Painting from London’s Royal College of Art, and a Creative Writing PhD from the University of Newcastle (UoN). Hopcroft’s publication list includes Griffith Review, The Australian, Sydney Morning Herald, Art Monthly and Newswrite. She has published two books: 100 Women, biographies of notable women connected with UoN, and The Silver Tales, a 25 year history of Hunter Valley Grammar School. 

Hopcroft’s images are found in collections across Australia, Europe and America. She has won competitions such as the Nescafe Big Break, and been a prize winner in prestigious awards such as the National Westminister 90s Prize for Art, with the latter featuring an exhibition at the Royal Academy. Her most recent two-person exhibition was with Bertie Blackman at Despard Gallery, Tasmania. She has a solo exhibition, The Re-Enchantment, coming up at Maitland Regional Art Gallery in 2020. Since moving to Maitland in 2013, Hopcroft has worked on theatre sets for Maitland Repertory Theatre, with two of these productions winning or being nominated for CONDA set design awards. In 2017, she was invited to participate in the Kampot Writers and Readers Festival, where she designed and painted a mural; she is currently creating a large-scale public art project for Lake Macquarie City Council. 

Hopcroft’s best known creative project is probably My Year as a Fairy Tale (MYFT). From 1st May, 2017, she dressed in historically accurate costume as Marie Antoinette for one year, 24/7, and went about her everyday life in Maitland. A film about MYFT was selected for the 2018 Real Film Festival, Newcastle. Hopcroft is currently writing a book about MYFT, and has been invited to speak about her writing at the 2020 Newcastle Writers Festival. 
​

Residency supported by the NSW Government
through Create NSW