Mark Selkrig is a giant magnet of a personality. Not in the ‘annoying person at a party’ context, more the ‘he is going to be a great loss to academia when he retires at the end of the year’ type of vibe.
He has taught and researched at four universities and finishes his career this year as an Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne. His academic life has been a career of decades bookended by a career as an artist. His career has inspired a thought-provoking exhibition which is launching this week, turning a critical, part-fond part-exasperated lens onto the work and life of the modern academic.
This is not a case of man railing against the machine and while it identifies a range of absurdities about academic life, it is not necessarily negative. The exhibition is more interesting because after a couple of decades of meetings, committees, conversations and no doubt consternation, the exhibition makes many interesting observations about academic life.
All a Bit Strange: Views of Academic Life and the Modern Work Paradox consists of woodcut prints where A/Prof Selkrig has portrayed himself in a range of critical and/or conceptual moments – falling over as colleagues pull away a rug in ‘Capricious Loyalty;’ riding a unicycle between two rows of robed observers as he navigates in ‘Committee Circus’ (above). The tired smile at yet another small setback being recognised in 'Rejection Fatigue' (below) is an expression that many will feel familiar with.
The artist has used his own face and image to portray every character in each image, reflecting the potential to play different roles in the dramas of the academic workplace.
A/Prof Selkrig created the works based on data gathered about academic life, such as through his Turning Points project and while many will relate to the images, he wants people to take their own meaning from the show.
“Who am I to speak on behalf of others? What I can speak on behalf of is the data about academic life and this is a synthesis of that,” A/Prof Selkrig said.
“The exhibition suggests there are joyous parts of life as an academic, but it also represents the emotive aspects we work through and multiple ways we have got to perform. In the academy there is always a precarious nature, we always need to perform and do things.
“There are the strange aspects about this workplace. When you talk to people in other bigger empires, like government, there are similar issues. It’s the nonsense parts of the work that are happening, but it’s a bit like the emperor with no clothes, people allow it to happen. How do you say, “Stop! this is mad!” You can’t do that while you are in it.”
While he says the university sector is not the place he entered last century, he is careful to emphasise the show is about observations of occasional absurdities, not a bitter farewell.
“I don’t want it to be like her is a grumpy old bloke leaving the profession. I want people to look and say ooh yeah and have a smile of recognition,” he says.
“I gave my last lecture this week, there were three students there. It’s the reality of campus life at the moment, people are not turning up.
“I make sense of the world is by image making. Writing I find hard, this is my preferred way of engaging with the world. It opens up possibilities, questions, interpretations.
“While there can be scathing criticism I want people to smile and laugh, our world is a bit sad and serious. Coming to work, there is not much laughter that happens any more, it’s all deadly serious.”
A/Prof Mark Selkrig’s exhibition, All a Bit Strange: Views of Academic Life and the Modern Work Paradox, is at the PG Gallery in Fitzroy 2-13 June 2026.