Polixeni Papapetrou

(Hardback)

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Description

A new series of monographs on Australian female artists, selected with series editor Natalie King, curator and Enterprise Professor at the Victorian College of the Arts. These books are compact yet perfectly formed. They comprise 96 pages of the artist's favourite works - designed for optimum visual impact and to reach anyone who is inspired by art and beauty. The extra frisson for these titles comes in the introduction. For each monograph, one luminary from another field will write a personal, powerful essay of 1200 words. It could be an ode to one particular painting; it could be a parallel narrative inspired by themes in the artist's work.

Author Bio

Polixeni Papapetrou (1960-2018) was born in Melbourne to Greek immigrants. Her childhood experience of feeling like an outsider in a then predominantly Anglo-Saxon culture led her to question definitions of identity. Her sympathy for otherness remained a key element of her life and work. As a photomedia artist, her images explored the relationship between history, contemporary culture and identity. Her photographs of children dressing up, performing and wearing masks sought to explore the portrayal of childhood identity. Her work has featured in over 50 solo exhibitions and over 100 group exhibitions in Australia, the USA, Asia and Europe. Survey exhibitions have been held at the Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, and the Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney. She exhibited in international photography festivals in Italy, Germany, Greece, France, Bratislava, the Netherlands, Colombia, China, Korea, Japan and Canada. Papapetrou obtained a PhD from Monash University, a master's degree from RMIT University and bachelor's degrees in arts and law from the University of Melbourne. In 2009, she received the Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award and in 2017, she won the Bowness Photography Prize. She is survived by her two children and her husband, art critic and academic Robert Nelson.