This Wild Song

Creating positive change, Ilona Nelson, a Melbourne based photographic and new media artist is inviting you to see Australian women artists through the lens of her perspective.

This Wild Song is a positive platform for women artists to be seen and promoted. Creating a websiteas her starting point, Nelson shoots specially planned portraits of each artist that reflects their unique personality and practice. Ranging across a variety of mediums and stages of their career, the selection process was intuitive for Nelson, stating “the way that I chose the artists is I find something unique in their work, something that stands out whether it was a particular concept or a medium.”

An ever expanding project, the website is a kind of encyclopaedia, with each artist to have a profile that includes their portrait and an interview. After a successful show at the Town hall Gallery, Hawthorne, future exhibitions are on the cards once further artists have been photographed. And in the final stage, Nelson is aiming to publish a book of these intimate portraits.

Still in its early stages, portraits of 14 artists have been created so far including Polixeni Pxpapetrou, Nell, MISO and Tai Snaith, which are featured on the website. To see the full list of artists click here. Other accomplished artists such as Catherine Bell, Celeste Chandler, Bindi Cole Chocka, Megan Cope, Julia deVille, Michelle Hamer and Jacqui Stockdale will also be featured throughout 2016.

No small commitment, the project has now grown to 91 confirmed artists, and Ilona hasn’t capped it at that. “It is getting pretty crazy, it’s so exciting. I wanted to create a really positive project, talking about gender equality in a positive way.”

For Nelson the process of photographing other artists is a rewarding experience in itself, “it’s definitely a collaboration, I find that when I am chatting to them about their practice that an idea will drop in. The theme of the portraits is to bring in an element of their works. I really want to capture honesty, which is what my work is about.”

The title of the project “This Wild Song”, was inspired by Emma de Clario’s painting ‘If I keep a green bough in my heart, a singing bird will surely come’. Creating a space of dialogue for Australian women artists with the public, it is a refreshing initiative that speaks of Nelson’s passion to support and create recognition for women artists.

“l wanted to create something to help them, help build the community, broaden their audiences and make it accessible to everyone.”

If you wish to support this positive action by Ilona Nelson, you can donate to the Pozible online campaign, which has received over 550 shares on Facebook. The crowdfunding campaign will enable Nelson to travel and create another 20 portraits, ending 30 May.

www.thiswildsong.com.au
www.onefourfour.org
www.pozible.com/thiswildsong

Courtesy Ilona Nelson and the artists.