Studies in monotone: Breathing is Living

The tunnel at St James Station in Sydney is a home for people experiencing homelessness. My Nike stride slows down as I’m approaching the makeshift bedrooms. From my surreptitious gaze, I spot a sparse bookshelf, the holy bible neatly placed, and a dog lying against an outstretched leg; she gazes from beneath her eyelids, spotting my guilt, but perhaps my awkward reminder that life is precarious. Artists survive on the outskirts of this edge, feeding on our resourcefulness, but aware that we need to comment, analyse and show the world what presides between dusk and dawn.

My series of monotone paintings are about people very much alive, pushing their trolleys between skyscrapers, huddling in bus shelters adorned with advertising, sleeping in tunnels, and living among unrestrained wealth.

I used images from a Victoria and Albert Museum Diary. These beautiful images are from the 1950s and 60s collection of couture, in black and white, with models like Jean Shrimpton in staged poses. I selected and juxtaposed some of these images with people experiencing homelessness to show the stark contrast between wealth and poverty in our society. The monotone and additions of colour highlight these stark differences.

I love the cat people in the Dr Who series, who are a highly sophisticated race. I used them in my Big Issue painting, presenting women in suits with hairy legs, which is about my feminism; after all, as a woman, I am from birth designated the edge of town, struggling to make it in this patriarchy just like the guy selling The Big Issue.

Acrylic on board, 22.3 X 30.5 cm. From the top: Subway Dog, Woman with Trolley, Winter Couture, Big Issue.

Victoria and Albert Museum Diary 2020, V & A Publishing, London, 2020.