Polly Borland is one of Australia’s most internationally recognisable contemporary artists. Famed for her early editorial work and portraiture, the artist today has shifted her focus decidedly to sculpture.

Claire Summers spoke with Polly about her new exhibition with Sullivan+Strumpf, about the distinctive and disruptive visual language that has defined her practice throughout her 4 decades as an artist and about her transition from photography to working in three-dimensional space.

Encountering Borland’s work is to be met first with a kind of obscurity. It is not her intention or desire that the work can or should be immediately understood. Borland’s work is intentionally unsettling, at least initially. In her sculptural works, turgid, morphed, misshapen, almost alien forms stand or slump before us. The urge to flinch is as strong as the one to prod. Yet beneath the skin of her creatures, both in her imagery and sculpture, stirs something deeply human. The artist invites us to look further, to ask questions not only of the work but of ourselves, of the self we see reflected to us. It is this lingering hint of the human that draws us closer, and closer still.

Sanné Mestrom’s art practice has always worked to complicate understandings of sculpture, but has recently focused more intently on exploring the agency of sculpture and its accountability to public and private space and the people that inhabit it.

In the fascinating discussion recorded during the installation of her latest exhibition, Body as Verb, Sanné and Gallery Director Ursula Sullivan discuss how Hannah Höch, motherhood and moving to the Blue Mountains has changed her and her practice.

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In this delightful, meandering conversation, multimedia artist Angela Tiatia chats with Genevieve Smart, co-founder of the iconic Australian fashion label, Ginger & Smart about the climate crisis, art and fashion.

It’s a fascinating discussion between two creative kindred spirits who met in 2017 at a climate crisis workshop on Heron Island organised by renowned Australian environmentalist, Tim Flannery.

Angela was also featured in Ginger & Smart’s recent Changemakers Series with six other influential women. She chats with Genievieve about creativity and their shared passion for the environment.

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