18. Fiona Hall

A prominent figure on the Australian art scene, Fiona Hall embraces a broad range of media in her work (often involving series) including painting, photography, sculpture, installations, garden design and videos. Her creations explore the links between nature and culture, for example by endowing objects with new roles, interwoven with flora and fauna. She feels deeply concerned by the state of the world and endeavours to convey social and political messages in this regard. These are never dogmatic, but brought across with humour, so as to question rather than thrust in people’s faces. She tackles the themes of ecology, globalisation, history, the impact of colonisation and capitalism on the world, as well as the conservation of species…

 

“My art, which encompasses different themes and materials, is turning increasingly towards the topical issues to do with the environment, politics and society, and reacting to these challenges. And yet my aim is to bring together various aspects of these themes in a way that is poetically provocative and not merely educational.

Right now, one of the points of discord and disagreement within the European Union is the UK’s decision to leave it: Brexit. Through the arrangement of the hives among the wheatsheaves, my installation reflects the UK’s imminent departure. Although an Australian citizen, and living a long way from the EU and its political turmoil, it is clear to me that the debates concerning the UK’s departure are being followed closely, even in our country. The European Union represents a powerful force on the international stage and the decisions it makes have an impact worldwide. The Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire, an erstwhile fortress equipped with a drawbridge to protect itself from any enemy invasion, displays features in common with the contemporary infrastructure of the European Union. It is an ideal setting for my installation.” Fiona Hall

Fiona Hall is a painter, sculptor and photographer. She was born and spent her childhood in Sydney, Australia; her mother was a radio astronomer and her father a telephone technician. Her brother, Peter Gavin Hall, is a statistical mathematician. She began to show an interest in art from the age of 14. She graduated from East Sydney Technical School (ESTS) in 1975. Although this school did not teach photography, it was in this subject that she first caught the public eye during an exhibition on young Australian photographers.

Fiona Hall spent two years in England as Fay Godwin’s assistant, and her first personal exhibition was held in London in 1977. She returned briefly to Australia in 1978 to care for her sick mother, and exhibited in Melbourne.

She then enrolled in the Visual Studies Workshop (VSW) in Rochester, United States, where, after studying for four years, she was awarded a Master of Fine Arts. She spent one year as an artist-in-residence at the Tasmanian School of Art where she created The Antipodean Suite: “These photographs came about through a desire to transcribe […] some aspects of what is often still referred to as the Antipodes. […] Literal meaning is not the intention. Rather, a visual exploration […] to arrive at the cohesion of an idea”. Fiona Hall

In the 1980s, she travelled and worked in South Australia for the South Australian School of Art. She exhibited and produced several series of photographs. She gained public recognition through the work Paradisus Terrestris.

 

Fiona Hall designed and produced the Australian pavilion at the 2015 Venice Biennale.