Unidentified Woman #2
Number #2 in the series, Unidentified Woman #2 is an impressive, large scale and hand cut collage from vintage paper on a historical image, paper base
Selected as a finalist in the 2023 Fishers Ghost Art Prize
Unidentified Woman #2 is an homage to the strong women who raised me.
Ready to Hang - professionally framed, wood box frame and under the best artist quality Perspex, by framer to the top Sydney galleries and artists, Andrew Bassett in Balmain.
"Whenever I visit her, she gives me cuttings.
All of mine are from familiar places" (Bell & Hawkes, Generations p 25)
My background is rooted in and formed by the profound narrative of the multi-generational, fundamentalist, religious women in my family. Shaped and sustained by their strict religious codes and dutiful in their piety and faith. The women abstained from alcohol, dressed modestly and their musical world limited music to hymns and the family piano.
A portrait of virtue in the pursuit of perfection within their faith. However, within these stringent confines, a poignant paradox unfolded and the relentless quest for perfection eroded their inherent substance, rendering them unseen and cloaked in invisibility.
The complex interplay between faith, tradition, and the struggle for identity. Despite their virtuous exterior and adherence to the religious demands they grappled with the subtle cost of conformity and invisibility.
This work sits parallel to my current art practice which speaks to my personal journey of ageing and this cloak of invisibility as an ageing woman.
I am an artist with a 30-year plus art practice that embraces a continuous obsession of honouring recycle/reuse within my practice. I celebrate the found, the unwanted and the discarded. I am especially drawn to incorporating vintage books, papers/carboard and found objects in my artwork. I use collage, mixed media, found objects and needlework to make new stories and to investigate notions of history, grief and loss and how the past informs us.
I fossick through the notions that devalue the female/domestic sphere and emphasise the anecdotal and the ‘small’ story in my practice. The small stories that give things meaning or enable understanding.
Ageing informs my current/continuing; Invisible Women, ‘Journey to the Year I became Invisible’, 'Small Stories' and ‘Soft Touch’ series, which map and document my personal journey of ageing.