Paintings

POLITICAL ART

Even though most people probably don't wish to hang political work on their walls, as an artist, I feel compelled to comment on world events via my art. To sit back and do nothing, to me would be akin to condoning the very actions and events that appall me. These works deal with issues I feel passionately about.

"They Stole the Children"
(Acrylic paint on timber board)

This work represents the stealing of Indigenous children from their families in order to assimilate them into white culture. In many cases the children were abused and/or used as cheap labor and some never found their birth families again. It was an era of blatant immoral Colonization that holds much shame for many Australians.

"Children's Paintings of War"
(Acrylic paint on timber board)

This work is a representation of a childs perspective on war in their lives. It was inspired by the drawings of children from different countries in the throes of war. This painting incorporates all 5 drawings

"Auschwitz? No, Woomera"
(Acrylic paint on timber board)

For the last few years in Australia, desperate refugees arriving by boats, seeking sanctuary but without identification papers, have been "held" in detention centers, sometimes for years, while their cases are "processed". Woomera was one of these centers but has since been closed down.

"The Other"
(Acrylic paint, mirror, photo of artist and timber board)

"The Other" is the one who is not like us, the one we deride because we are afraid of their differences. For the Nazi it was the Jew, for the homophobe, its homosexual people and for the Xenophobe its just about everyone!

"Peace Shrine"
This shrine was created from various gifts people gave me.

I painted Tibetan rain clouds, and my daughter added her symbolic paintings of peace. Sea shells, images of Goddesses, magical crystals, Balinese dragon wings, trinkets and treasures, gold carvings of flowers and vine leaves, & surrounded with a golden frame bejeweled with purple and red beads.

All this to show how precious is Peace.