For over 34 years Piper Press has showcased leading Australian artists and art writers through books that are meticulously designed and edited to make contemporary art accessible and inspiring for all.

Our history

Founders Margaret Bishop and John Dunn had careers in art education and curriculum development when they decided to establish Piper Press, dedicating their work to representing the under-represented: women artists, mid-career and Indigenous artists through quality publications and partnerships with galleries, curators, academics and respected writers.

Among their many achievements, Piper Press has been instrumental in the Save Our Sirius campaign in which thousands of people were mobilised to prevent the destruction of the notable Sirius building in Millers Point, Sydney. In raising awareness for the campaign, John and Margaret helped to curate an art exhibition, regular events and marches, and published Sirius: a beautiful book to document the character and lives of the people who live there. The outcome of the campaign raised awareness about development in Sydney, and prevented the total destruction of the building. Sirius has now become an essential aspect of architectural education and a demonstration of architectural activism. A timeline of Piper Press’s history shows selected highlights below. 

With the global pandemic behind us, we have published three new titles and we look forward to an exiting future.

Our focus

Specialising in beautifully produced artist monographs, Piper Press has published books on many of Australia's successful artists including Tracey Moffatt, Fiona Hall, Del Kathryn Barton, Julie Rrap, Patricia Piccinini, Rosemary Laing, Bronwyn Oliver, William Robinson, Euan Macleod and more. We have also published books on architecture, photography and photographers, Asian art and visual arts, and dance books for art educators.

Piper Press takes a keen interest in women artists, Indigenous Australian artists, both emerging and established artists, contemporary and Asian art, architecture and design, photography, art practice and art history.

In addition to publishing our titles, we are specialist bookseller curating the best latest titles on these categories for art and architecture lovers, readers, collectors and educators.

2023 onwards

In late 2023, Piper Press embarked on its next phase with new owners and long-time friends: Alexei Mazin and Kathryn Franco. Under the skilled stewardship of Margaret and John during this transition, Piper Press will continue to work with its valued artists, writers and partners to grow and include new artist monographs, while expanding architecture, design and photography publications.

Alexei Mazin attended National Art School in Sydney and trained in painting, printmaking, photography, art theory and history. He is a Wynne Prize finalist (1973). He graduated from City Art Institute/University of New South Wales and completed post graduate studies in teaching at Alexander Mackie College/University of Sydney. He was a visual arts educator for over 20 years, an art history specialist and tutor at the University of Sydney and lecturer at Australian Catholic University. He turned his interest to photography and video production as the Head of Film and Video at KvB College and opened the Avid Training Centre in Sydney for non-linear editing by the mid 1990s. Alexei has been an entrepreneur and technologist in the video and broadcast field for the past 20+ years and looks forward to immersing himself in arts publishing.

Kathryn Franco is a digital and content strategist. She studied art history, theory and philosophy at the University of Sydney and gained a 1st Class Honours Degree in Arts from the University of Sydney for her thesis on Wim Wenders' Until the End of the World (1993). She has an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management at the University of New South Wales. For 25+ years she has worked at the intersection of media, content making and technology and has worked in film, television news and current affairs, Internet content production, retail and e-commerce. She is a Webby Award Winner and W3 Award Winner.