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I studied Fine Art (Painting) at RMIT and have a Postgraduate Certificate in Art Conservation from the University of Melbourne. I continue a practical interest in fine art particularly through still life and landscape painting and the creation of assemblages using found objects.

I joined the Museum in 2005 after working as the Curator and Collection Manager at the Royal Historical Society of Victoria for 14 years. As part of this role I conducted numerous workshops on preservation of cultural material for small museums and historical societies in Melbourne and throughout regional Victoria. I also worked in similar roles at the Italian Historical Society and the Italian Australian Institute at La Trobe University.

This work has fostered an appreciation of history and the way history is created through images, in particular, through the photographic image. My family migrated to Australia from Girifalco in southern Italy, when I was four years old and I grew up in Collingwood. As a result, I have a special interest in the industrial and migrant life of that suburb especially in the period post-World War II when both these characteristics of the city peaked. I have always maintained a love of Italy’s culture and literature and, as a result, I am fortunate to speak fluent Italian. My childhood adventures included exploring the streets around Smith Street, seeing games at Victoria Park and ‘escaping’ whenever I could to the wonders of the nearby Museum of Victoria, then situated in Swanston Street.

Qualifications

Diploma Fine Art [Painting]

Postgraduate Certificate Art Conservation

Links

• 'A Universe in a box': The Expansive Lantern Slide Collection of Museums Victoria
• The Italian Historical Society Photographic Collection (PDF, 719KB)

Preservation projects

Over the last few years I have project managed the relocation of major History and Technology collections to a purpose-built collections store at the Museum’s Moreland Facility. These collections include the images, photographic objects and audio-visual collections. The projects have culminated in the establishment of the Museum’s picture making collection store at Moreland, one which embodies the history of pre-cinema, photography and cinematography.

One of the most rewarding and comprehensive team projects has been the rehousing, cataloguing and digitisation of the magic lantern artefacts and lantern slide images. The collection, spanning the years 1800 – 1940, comprises some 11,000 lantern slides and is one of the most important collections of its type in the world. The collection traces many aspects of Australian social history: early visual entertainment, education and touring lecturers. It is also significant for the history of pre-cinema technology.

Most recently, I have overseen the preservation and digitisation of a priority selection of audio, video and motion film from the Humanities audio-visual collections. The Museum’s motion film collection goes back to the origins of the medium. Home movies or amateur movies, indigenous life, manufacturing and industry, farming, migration and social history are just a few of the major themes embodied in the collection. The collection is preserved in a purpose built cold storage unit for film based images. But because of the fragile nature of film the collection has been largely inaccessible and therefore, invisible. Over the past four years the Museum has begun the challenging and expensive task of digitising some of the films in order to make them available to researchers and the general public.

Iozzi, L, An Ocean Liner Named Australia, Italian Historical Society Journal, Co.As.It,