In 2007, Marisa Purcell completed a Masters of Visual Arts at the University of Sydney, (SCA) under the supervision of Lindy Lee and Matthys Gerber, culminating in a dissertation entitled 'Ancestral Spaces: Time, Memory and the Liminal experience of Painting'. For this degree she received an Australian Post Graduate Award, and her dissertation was published by VDM publishing. The research investigated the links between Arabic and western spatial devices used in pre-Renaissance painting. She also holds a Master of Art Administration from The University of New South Wales (COFA) where she majored in museological and curatorial studies. Her recent solo exhibitions include , 'Immanence' at Edwina Corlette Gallery, Brisbane, 'Night Crossings' Tight Projects, Sydney, 'Only the Memories are New' at Ryan Renshaw Gallery in Brisbane (2008), 'Places to Remember' at the Cat Street Gallery in Hong Kong, 'Dreamscapes' at Kashya Hildebrand Galerie in Zurich and the Post-Graduating exhibition at SCA in 2007. In 2006, she co-curated a group show at Kudos Gallery, 'Slowly, Slowly', and held a solo entitled 'Time Being'. In 2004 she travelled to Zurich to take up a 6 month residency at the 'Verein Pro Fuge', an initiative to turn a housing commission building into artist studios. There she collaborated with numerous artists and exhibited regularly in the gallery on site. She was also part of the studio's publication entitled 'Art in Times of Change'. During her 18 month stay in Zurich, Marisa's solo show, 'Sticky Nights' at Station21 Galerie was widely reviewed, leading to another solo at Table Gallery in Basel (in conjunction with ArtBasel) entitled 'In Between'. Following this period in Switzerland, Marisa was awarded a 7 month residency at the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris (2004-5) and there she held a solo exhibition of works entitled 'The Entrance'. In addition to her numerous solo shows, since returning home to Australia, Marisa has been selected for inclusion in various group exhibitions, including the Blake prize for Religious Art (2007, 2006, 2005), 'Art on Paper' at Hazelhurst Regional Gallery (2007, 2005, 2001), and 'Unrealesque' a group show curated by Andrew Frost at Grantpirrie Gallery in Sydney. In the last two years of her practice, Marisa has focussed on investigating perspective devices, and how colour can be a vehicle to alter a spatial reality.