A SPACE GALLERY // Melbourne polytechnic visual arts
I live in Melbourne Australia. My artistic influences draw from women’s self-portraits and representations of women from the 16 centuries to contemporary times. Inspiration for my work comes from questioning misogyny in western philosophical tradition. I work with new and traditional mediums using them in a unique way. Gouache and ink on transparent acetate and Yupo are used which allow for hybrid layers which combine to create the finished work. The base layer on Yupo utilises inks and the process is largely uncontrolled representing the living cells of my subjects evoked in the moment. The animal nature of woman that needed to be contained. Often the work includes a semi-controlled layer of flowers printed directly onto the surface their residue a fleeting memory of nature representing women’s discursively constructed ‘lack of reason and moral ability’ and questioning the hierarchical distinction between masculinity and art and femininity and craft. The final figurative layer is a painstaking process working in reverse to create a mirror image of the subject. I have studied a Bachelor of Arts encompassing philosophy, postgraduate studies in Education and am currently completing the Advanced Diploma in Illustration. 
To purchase and see more of my art go to;

Spengler’s Herstory is Home

A3 gouache, acrylic and ink on acetate and Yupo.

Oswald Spengler (1880-1936) believed man’s history was one of conquest and culture, and women’s was of home, children and nature.

Weinger’s Plaything

A3 gouache, acrylic and ink on acetate and Yupo.

Otto Weinger (1880-1903) believed woman was the plaything of men and children. Nothing but sexuality itself finding meaning through the male.

Hegel’s Woman as Plant

A3 gouache, acrylic and ink on acetate and Yupo.

According to G.W.F Hegel (1770-1831) the difference between men and women was like the difference between animal and plant.

Plato’s Pet

A3 gouache, acrylic and ink on acetate and Yupo.

Plato (427-347 BCE) believed women were closer to animals than to men.

Schopenhauer’s Moral Inability

A3 gouache, acrylic and ink on acetate and Yupo.

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) believed women were unable to be moral. He believed they had failed to produce great art or any work of permanent value.

Hobbes State is Your Protector

A3 gouache, acrylic and ink on acetate and Yupo.

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) believed the state and the family with the father ruling was essential to ensure women didn’t lapse into a state of nature and destruction.

Augustine’s Helpmate - A3 gouache, acrylic and ink on acetate and Yupo. Augustine 354-430 BCE believed women must be the helpmate to man as man is wisdom and woman is mind and needs to be subordinate.
Augustine’s Helpmate - A3 gouache, acrylic and ink on acetate and Yupo. Augustine 354-430 BCE believed women must be the helpmate to man as man is wisdom and woman is mind and needs to be subordinate.
Locke’s Liberty in Private - A3 gouache, acrylic and ink on acetate and Yupo. John Locke 1632-1704 believed women’s liberty can be in the private not the political realm as women are to irrational and passionate in nature.
Locke’s Liberty in Private - A3 gouache, acrylic and ink on acetate and Yupo. John Locke 1632-1704 believed women’s liberty can be in the private not the political realm as women are to irrational and passionate in nature.
Freud’s Penis Envy - A3 gouache, acrylic and ink on acetate and Yupo. Freud 1856-1939 thought women as children recognise the penis as a superior organ. Women’s sexuality hindered her ability to act morally.
Freud’s Penis Envy - A3 gouache, acrylic and ink on acetate and Yupo. Freud 1856-1939 thought women as children recognise the penis as a superior organ. Women’s sexuality hindered her ability to act morally.

Aquinas’s Misbegotten Male

A3 gouache, acrylic and ink on acetate and Yupo. 

Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) thought woman was the misbegotten male who needed to be subjected to the higher powers of man.

Aristotle’s Mutilated Male

A3 gouache, acrylic and ink on acetate and Yupo.

Aristotle (384- 322 BCE) believed the female was the mutilated male. Woman provided the raw material but male sperm is the source of life and thus the shape life will take. So male must rule female.

Rousseau’s Male Need

A3 gouache, acrylic and ink on acetate and Yupo.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) understood women solely in relation to male needs.

Kant’s Nature Subdued

A3 gouache, acrylic and ink on acetate and Yupo.

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) associated women with nature and lacking the ability to be moral and so believed women must be subdued by men.

Interested in the Visual Arts at Melbourne Polytechnic?
Click here to find out more.
Advanced Diploma of Creative Product Development
Code: CUA60415 Cricos: 090497B
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