In 2014 she curated the exhibition Ash Island and its Transformations. It focused on the Hunter River’s Ash Island and was held at The Lock Up.

For the exhibition she commissioned works from four Newcastle artists –   Nicola Hensel, Cherie Johnson, Emma van Leest and Shan Turner-Carroll – that explored the cultural significance of the island and the Scott sisters, Helena and Harriet, who were natural history illustrators.  

The Scott sisters lived on Ash Island from the 1846-65 and worked closely with their father on researching and illustrating his book Australian Lepidoptera and their Transformations.

The commissioned works explored the pre and post-colonial occupation of the island, the legacy of the Scott sisters and Ash Island as a cultural site.

“It was significant for me, it was the first solo curation I had done, up until then I had been a co-curator,” she said. 

“I think I was just really fascinated by their story, that something of such national significance could be so hidden and so unknown, even locally.

“I was captured by the nationalism in their work. They viewed the images they were making as significant contributions to a young colony, an unusual drive for women of their time.

“They really were professional but privately, they had to work under their father.”

Her Sydney talk will give an overview of the work of the Scott sisters and the significance of Ash Island. 

Ms Howden is undertaking her PhD through Sydney College of the Arts. It explores the subject of islands in contemporary art. 

“It’s about how artists and curators use island spaces in art … real islands and fictional islands.” she said. 

“They are really potent spaces with ideas about containment, they are like prison and paradise at the same time.” 

Tickets to the Australian Museum talk, to be held on May 25, and more information is available here: australianmuseum.net.au