MJ Bentley Queer Officer

(she/they)

MJ is a photographic artist studying to be an arts manager currently completing a Master’s Degree of Arts and Cultural Management at the University of Melbourne. MJ is queer and uses both she and they pronouns. As an active member of the LGBTIQA+ community, MJ is aware of the prevalent issues and opportunities amongst the people that make up the community. MJ is committed to being a voice for the LGBTIQA+ at an academic level. While working as GSA Queer Officer, MJ hopes to build bridges between the LGBTIQA+ community and other communities, encourage members of the LGBTIQA+ community to seek higher education, and aid in the cultivation of a space where LGBTIQA+ members feel comfortable obtaining higher education.
MJ was a Graduate Ambassador at the University of Melbourne in 2023 earning her a Melbourne Plus People Leadership acknowledgement. In 2022 she produced a runway show for migrant and refugee designers from The Social Studio alongside a projection art event for the Centre for Projection Art, funded by the City of Yarra catered by BAHN and now featured on ABC iView’s Art Works. She has made ethical multicultural collaboration practices a focus of her arts practice and arts management studies.
As an artist, she has exhibited her ongoing series on drag queens at Midsumma 2024,Queerthentic 2024, George Patton Gallery 2023, EAC Paste Up 2023. She was awarded Top 40 Emerging Photographer 2023 by Capture Magazine & Fujifilm. In the winter of 2024 she underwent an intensive mentorship program from Mexican artist Francisco Guevara. MJ has her undergraduate degree in Film & Television with a minor focus in Animation/VFX from Deakin University. She has worked on a number of festival award winning films as director, producer, or cinematographer. She was awarded the New Colombo Plan Grant in 2017 to study Animation in Japan. Philanthropically, from 2010-2014 MJ was an active mentor and advocate for youth affected by alcoholism, addiction, and the opiate crisis. She held various positions including Events Chair, Graphics Chair, and AV Chair on FCYPAA and ICYPAA state and international anonymous sober youth committees. In 2018 she worked as a companion for Vision Australia, spending time with the visually impaired.
MJ proudly comes from a family of television journalists, a federal lawyer, psychologists, writers, a DJ, musicians, successful business owners, and full-time mothers. Culturally, her family is from the South & Midwest in the United States, the North East in the United States, Australia, and Vietnam.
In her spare time, MJ enjoys learning Italian, scuba diving with the Melbourne University Underwater Club (MUUC), snowboarding, sport spectating, engaging with arts and culture, and spending time with friends and family.