EDITOR’S NOTE

As its social and political implications have unpacked over the last half-century, the word ‘identity’ has continued to accumulate meanings. From ‘self’ to ‘individuality’, the idea came to include a question of the separation of majority and minority, good and bad, black and white. Then as we came to see/feel there was something else about our choices, the noun ‘identity’ became the plural noun ‘identities’, more complex; less black and white; or not so good and bad; reflecting a fluidity between majorities and minorities. The word now introduces the idea of exploring the
hidden within the already visible

In this issue of Artist Profile, the profiles and various articles reflect complex identities. The idea, the matter, of identity is widely and deeply canvassed through a multiplicity of artists’ works, in a sometimes immediate, and mostly intimate way. Focussing on the local, they challenge unresolved issues of inequality including sovereignty, climate change, race and gender: many of these issues resonate beyond Australasia. At times the reader gasps in disbelief at generational inequality, which seeps like an infected wound. Drew Pettifer’s profile on William Yang recounting the photographic series My Uncle’s Murder is perhaps more shocking when viewed through the lens of time. The suffering of Indigenous people through paternalism and apartheid is contextualised through Susie Anderson’s profile on Fiona Foley, where Foley discusses the issue of attitudes to marriage between Chinese and Aboriginal people.

There is deep a sense of satisfaction in featuring Bill Henson as our cover artist. Erin McFadyen’s essay on Henson prepares us for his new solo exhibition which, using his archives, reconsiders his work as a younger artist, the passage of his life and works over time. The formal devices in Henson’s work, whether landscape, portrait or group of figures – transient paths, gaps and connections – touch our emotions and invite us to contemplate the power of love and death without fear.

Kon Gouriotis
Editor

CONTENTS

ISSUE

Van Gogh Alive by Michael Young
Anonymous

COVER FEATURE

Bill Henson by Erin McFadyen

PROFILES

Claudia Greathead by Kevin Wilson
Christopher Hodges by Tai Mitsuji
Bill Henson by Erin McFadyen
Tira Walsh by Kirsty Baker
John von Sturmer by H.R. Hyatt-Johnston
Fiona Foley by Susie Anderson
Hnery Curchod by Emma Finneran
Olga Cironis by Louella Hayes
William Yang by Drew Pettifer
Wendy Stavrianos by Sasha Grishin
Mathew Simms by Lucy Hawthorne

INSIGHT

PROCESS Marikit Santiago
POEM Elena Gomez
PROCESS  Marian Crawford
TRIBUTE Ross Seaton by Ted Snell
PREVIEW Earth Canvas by Brooke Boland
PREVIEW Stephen Bird by Emma-Kate Wilson
PREVIEW Charmaine Pike by Bridget McLeod
PREVIEW Guy Warren by Erin McFadyen
REVIEW Arthur Streeton by Paul McGillick
REVIEW Victoria Reichelt by Kim Guthrie
ESSAY Know My Name by Judith Pugh
ESSAY Theosophy in Australian Art by Stephanie Claire
BOOK Son of the Brush  by Peter Hill
DISCOVERY Issy Parker  by Elli Walsh