From artists to activists: RMIT students make heartbreaking tribute to Isla Bell at end of year showcase

A group of 30 RMIT art students pulled their year’s work from the graduate showcase to instead honour the life of slain teen Isla Bell and the 85 women killed this year in Australia.

Fine arts students at RMIT, Melbourne removed their works from an end of year showcase to pay tribute to slain teen Isla Bell. Picture: Supplied

A group of young RMIT art students have pulled their works from their university’s end of year showcase to instead honour slain teen Isla Bell and the additional 85 women killed in Australia in 2024.

The November 19-24 showcase marked the “biggest event” of students’ three-year course, the chance to display the product of a gruelling semester of work to perspective buyers, family and friends, and most of all, an “opportunity to make a start in the art world”.

But rather than displaying their work, students flipped their canvases to hide their art, scrawling the name “Isla Bell” across the walls instead.

Fine arts graduating student Elli Sheeran started the movement by pulling her paintings from the wall to instead honour Isla Bell. Picture: Supplied

For 21-year-old fine arts student Elli Sheeran, the news that 19-year-old Isla Bell’s body had been found in a rubbish truck in Dandenong two days into the exhibition persuaded her to take part in a greater showcase of protest.

Ms Sheeran had spent the semester detailing the difficulties and expectations of womanhood in her final art pieces.

While Ms Sheeran’s pieces hung on display at RMIT, two men were charged in connection to Isla Bell’s murder — a girl just two years younger than herself, whose missing posters had plastered the streets of Melbourne in weeks prior.

Slain teen Isla Bell has been remembered as a ‘bright, vibrant, caring person’. Picture: Supplied

“We see this, another woman being murdered, 86 now this year,” she said.

“You can’t help but feel the fear for yourself, your friends and your family.

“I had to do something. I just wanted people to talk. It couldn’t be something that nobody talks about.”

Ms Sheeran returned to RMIT to remove her art works in protest of gender-based violence, taking to the wall with a permanent marker to spell out “ISLA BELL” in its place.

“I can’t make art about feminism without acknowledging what’s happening currently,” Ms Sheeran said.

Elli Sheeran begins the movement by taking down her art works. Picture: Supplied

A text message to her cohort’s group chat was all it took to start a movement.

One by one, about 30 young women returned to the exhibition to take down their art work and pay tribute to Isla Bell.

It was student Alba Goodey Artacho, 20, who sought to take the protest one step further, and include the names of every Australian woman killed this year.

Utilising the names and current toll tracked by Sherele Moody of Australian Femicide Watch, Ms Goodey Artacho began with 85 names up on her wall, calling the 40-minute process of writing them all out “horrifying”.

“You see the number 85, you know it’s big number, but writing it out just really solidified that,” she said.

“After I’d written it all out, three hours later, someone sent a message in our group chat saying we’ve just been contacted by Sherele Moody, in charge of the Femicide Watch – the number is now 86.

“We had to go in and cross out the fives and replace them with sixes. It was genuinely heartbreaking.

“Though we were all aware of the statistic that one woman is killed every three days, it was just so alarming to have to add another name to that list.”

Students describe the ‘horrifying’ moment they had to update the figure of women killed in Australia this year from 85 to 86 during the exhibition. Picture: Supplied

Ms Goodey Artacho said it was important to share her connection to her heritage in her final art pieces, especially after the loss of close family members — but the protest was even more so, prompting her to take them down.

“Though I lost two people close to me, the families of 86 women and going through even harder times,” she said.

“It felt really important to honour them and share their names.”

Fine arts student Alba Goodey Artacho with her art works at RMIT end of year showcase, which she removed in protest of gender-based violence. Picture: Supplied

The young students said their teachers and technicians were “extremely supportive and great allies to the protest”, and hoped the display would bring voice to the “disgusting” spate of gender-based violence across the country.

“It’s very few men who really understand the weight of what’s happening and how violence against women comes to fruition,” Ms Goodey Artacho said.

“It’s not just about these men who have violent tendencies. It’s about stopping everything that leads up to it — the sexist jokes, comments, anything that incites this idea that women are inferior to men, and gives men the idea that their lives are worth more than a woman’s, and that they can do what they do without repercussions.

“It’s horrible the reason that we’re all coming together, but it’s really beautiful to see all these women and people come together for a cause.”