artists-from-australia

""It doesn't matter what you call it. It is a sacred force that represents the experience of life that informs human beingness."

"‘If Diane’s purpose was the intrigue and open the reader’s mind to Oshun, then she’s done a spectacular job as I’m now hungry for more learning on the subject’"

"‘There’s something incredibly effortless and beautiful about the way Esguerra writes’"

"‘Diane Esguerra is a very fine writer’"

"And as with all religions, there is no true way to explain it along rational lines without leeching it of its meaning and intensely personal quality. You are a part of it and it is a part of you. You may, as so many have done, push it aside, but it remains in you…in all of us."

"Creative thinking and art are not measurable since they're testimony of the truth and inherent in all that exists. And this truth, the only truth, has many faces. Who can count the faces of truth? All religion are ultimately the religion of mankind. Art is ritual."

"The veil of taboo and language scepticism lays itself over the works that are free from materialism and empty transcendence."

"“serve life in a life-enhancing way”"

"Women are the consumers in society, but they are also the consumed. My purpose in the work (Down Under Among The Women) is to confirm more than to deny and if women are still portrayed as sex objects in art and society, my aim is to recreate them as sex subjects. I use sexual imagery in the context of the female body in an attempt to reveal the tragedy and comedy of women's lives."

"My work is for my own pleasure and fulfilment. I like to give form to my emotional and visual responses and to explore themes which reflect my attitudes as a socially concious woman artist."

"When I've travelled I've been attracted by the human presences imprinted in inanimate objects and structures and I prefer the freedom and directness of watercolours to recall these associations. (discussing the merits of watercolour as an art medium)"

"Both. I think it causes problems, but it's something we must work with, as the North American women did. They included everyone instead of being exclusive. They had so much energy, and they were going parallel to the women's movement. It's a very difficult time now in Australia. We don't want to identify with North America because Australian women have a very different experience. (reflecting on her experience living and working in North America versus Australia, and as a direct answer to the questions: How do you feel at the thought of having contact with women in a Women's Art Movement who are not feminists? Does that seem exciting, or do you see it as causing a lot of problems?)"

"There is not nearly enough change here, the men have not kept up with the women's movement. In America I found that male artists used feminist ideas in their work. I don't see that here at all. (Hillcoats' experience with the women's movement whilst living and working in North America versus Australia)"

"Women artists need to consider the basic attitudes underlying censorship of women's art work and how it reflects a deep-seated fear in the community. During the past 15 years feminist artists have worked to change patriarchal attitudes towards women. As well, feminist art historians and critics have re-instated many women artists lost in history and made their imagery visible again. The struggle to produce new imagery and to interpret and defend such statements and ideas has often been at considerable personal cost."

"For the past 20 years I have been deconstructing 'the nude' through drawing, painting and collage. Collage is a perfect medium for reappropriating and juxtaposing images from many sources and rearranging them as personal metaphors, analogies and ambiguities."

"At the time of my writing, 30 years ago, I felt the works of artists like Frida Kahlo and Dorothea Tanning were not sufficiently known or appreciated. The Bulletin provided a way of bringing these artists to the attention of a much wider audience. (about the importance of the Women's Art Register Bulletin and her own regular column ‘A Look At Books’ in it)"

"Science didn’t interest me at school but I found science as related to ceramics, geology and alchemy to be very intriguing. I think we don’t always choose our influences, they somehow choose us."

"The roots are the vessels through which life passes to produce more. I am thinking about my own roots and of where I come from. Even when I am not in my homestead, I still feel very connected to who I am as an African."

"Motherhood has made me more appreciative of and empathetic to others. It has also taught me a lot about the nurturing qualities of earth, which is the basis for most of my work."

"Man has a symbiotic relationship with the Earth. We depend on the natural surroundings for sustenance, shelter and survival. Ecological and climatic conditions in the natural habitat reflect how well we manage Earth’s resources. We can only ensure our longevity if we protect and preserve the planet."

"Unlike Western societies, where you find a lot of organised stores and shopping centres, African markets are rather visceral, tactile, and very physical."

"Through death, new forms are born. Even when it looks like something is diminishing or disappearing, it gives way to a whole new force. Death is always necessary for change to occur and for new life to come."

"Therefore, the solution to climatic problems has to be collective. It is our responsibility to treat and handle nature delicately, so that it can be sustained."

"The climatic changes we experience are forced changes, creating much damage to humankind and the natural habitat."

"It is hard to discuss cultural elements without thinking about the environment and the universe."

"On one hand, I am thinking about how ‘good things ultimately trump’ in our world, in spite of life’s unpredictability and abnormalities. It is my mantra – a way to remind myself that life events always tend to have cycles, so good things will definitely come to pass, even when life seems grim."