Artists

Frame of Mind: Mental health and the arts has drawn together artists from New South Wales and Western Australia who explore themes of mental health within their practices. For more information about these artists, download the free Frame of Mind publication here…
New South Wales

Hiromi Tango

Hiromi Tango has been engaging dynamically at the intersection between art and mental health for over ten years. Drawing on her own experiences of anxiety, the artist’s elaborate installations and  performances allow audiences to consider the embodied self, the emotional terrain of our relationships with others, and the healing possibilities of art. She has collaborated with numerous scientists, health professionals and research and research institutions and has exhibited the products of these collaborations both locally and internationally. In both her studio practice and her community engagement projects Tango dedicates herself to exploring how various aspects of the art-making process can contribute to positive mental wellbeing.

hiromi Tango

Hiromi Tango has been engaging dynamically at the intersection between art and mental health for over ten years. Drawing on her own experiences of anxiety, the artist’s elaborate installations and  performances allow audiences to consider the embodied self, the emotional terrain of our relationships with others, and the healing possibilities of art. She has collaborated with numerous scientists, health professionals and research and research institutions and has exhibited the products of these collaborations both locally and internationally. In both her studio practice and her community engagement projects Tango dedicates herself to exploring how various aspects of the art-making process can contribute to positive mental wellbeing.

Stevie Fieldsend

Stevie Fieldsend creates work that details an emotional state – a feeling or bodily sensation of a past event. With materials as diverse as glass, charred wood, steel and textiles the works explore the way in which emotions and past traumas can be processed and integrated through the making of art. Drawing upon potent personal experiences of trauma and complex PTSD these deeply felt works give powerful material expressions of the way seemingly fixed states of being can, given the right circumstances, be transformed.

Stevie Fieldsend

Stevie Fieldsend creates work that details an emotional state – a feeling or bodily sensation of a past event. With materials as diverse as glass, charred wood, steel and textiles the works explore the way in which emotions and past traumas can be processed and integrated through the making of art. Drawing upon potent personal experiences of trauma and complex PTSD these deeply felt works give powerful material expressions of the way seemingly fixed states of being can, given the right circumstances, be transformed.

Giselle Stanborough

Giselle Stanborough is an intermedia artist whose works examine the interpolation of the self, and the relationship between connectivity and isolation. Drawing upon psychoanalytic perspectives and motivated by a curiosity in the increasing indeterminacy between the private and public spheres, Stanborough’s work addresses contemporary interpersonal experiences in relation to technology, feminism and consumer capitalism.

Giselle Stanborough

Giselle Stanborough is an intermedia artist whose works examine the interpolation of the self, and the relationship between connectivity and isolation. Drawing upon psychoanalytic perspectives and motivated by a curiosity in the increasing indeterminacy between the private and public spheres, Stanborough’s work addresses contemporary interpersonal experiences in relation to technology, feminism and consumer capitalism.

Sara Morawetz

Sara Morawetz is a conceptual artist from Newcastle, NSW, now based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, whose interdisciplinary practice engages a range of mediums including performance, installation, photography and video. Her work is an examination of the systems and structures that measure experience, investigating concepts such as time and distance to explore their physical, emotional and exhaustive potential.

Sara Morawetz

Sara Morawetz is a conceptual artist from Newcastle, NSW, now based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, whose interdisciplinary practice engages a range of mediums including performance, installation, photography and video. Her work is an examination of the systems and structures that measure experience, investigating concepts such as time and distance to explore their physical, emotional and exhaustive potential.

Abdul Abdullah

As a seventh-generation Muslim Australian of mixed ethnicity who grew up in suburban Perth (an ‘outsider amongst outsiders’), Abdul Abdullah’s multi-disciplinary practice is motivated by a longstanding concern with the complex feelings of displacement and alienation associated with histories of diaspora and migration. Providing a voice to these rarely told topics, he creates carefully crafted political  commentaries that speak of the ‘Other’ and the experiences of marginalised communities. Intersecting between popular culture, contemporary conflicts and personal experience, his recent works renegotiate histories and create space for alternative possibilities and new conversations.

Abdul Abdullah

As a seventh-generation Muslim Australian of mixed ethnicity who grew up in suburban Perth (an ‘outsider amongst outsiders’), Abdul Abdullah’s multi-disciplinary practice is motivated by a longstanding concern with the complex feelings of displacement and alienation associated with histories of diaspora and migration. Providing a voice to these rarely told topics, he creates carefully crafted political  commentaries that speak of the ‘Other’ and the experiences of marginalised communities. Intersecting between popular culture, contemporary conflicts and personal experience, his recent works renegotiate histories and create space for alternative possibilities and new conversations.

David Capra

Performance artist David Capra is best known for his collaborations with dachshund Teena. With works incorporating sculpture, installation and video the pair create engaging multi-sensory experiences, inviting audiences to participate and contribute meaning to the work. Dressed in trademark white the artist is like a “walking paper towel”, absorbing everything around him. Capra describes himself as an ‘intercessory artist’, whose work takes the form of interventions into physical and social space designed to initiate healing.

David Capra

Performance artist David Capra is best known for his collaborations with dachshund Teena. With works incorporating sculpture, installation and video the pair create engaging multi-sensory experiences, inviting audiences to participate and contribute meaning to the work. Dressed in trademark white the artist is like a “walking paper towel”, absorbing everything around him. Capra describes himself as an ‘intercessory  artist’, whose work takes the form of interventions into physical and social space designed to initiate healing.

Western Australia

Anna Nazzari

Anna Nazzari is a Perth-based visual artist and creative producer working across film, sculptural installation and drawing. Her practice focuses on the investigation of mythological tales, superstitions and unusual events that emphasise moral certainty and foster a reading of the absurd. Her work is often painstakingly made and combines old-world skills with contemporary art processes to aesthetically convey the contradictory or futile facets of life. She often collaborates with fellow Perth artist Erin Coates, creating films and sculptural installations that highlight human fragility.

Anna Nazzari

Anna Nazzari is a Perth-based visual artist and creative producer working across film, sculptural installation and drawing. Her practice focuses on the investigation of mythological tales, superstitions and unusual events that emphasise moral certainty and foster a reading of the absurd. Her work is often painstakingly made and combines old-world skills with contemporary art processes to aesthetically convey the contradictory or futile facets of life. She often collaborates with fellow Perth artist Erin Coates, creating films and sculptural installations that highlight human fragility.

Carla Adams

Carla Adams’ work includes sculpture, textiles, craft practices, painting, drawing, research and bookmaking, navigating the complexities of relationships from an embodied, female perspective. Recent projects include the documentation of her encounters with over 1000 men on tinder, blending deft humour with wry observation to reframe their digital self-presentations and reflect on the psycho-social environment of online dating. By documenting her own experiences Adams reflects on the unsettling power structures and perplexing attractions that can ensnare us in these networks.

Carla Adams

Carla Adams work includes sculpture, textiles, craft practices, painting, drawing, research and bookmaking, navigating the complexities of relationships from an embodied, female perspective. Recent projects include the documentation of her encounters with over 1000 men on tinder, blending deft humour with wry observation to reframe their digital self-presentations and reflect on the psycho-social environment of online dating. By documenting her own experiences Adams reflects on the unsettling power structures and perplexing attractions that can  ensnare us in these networks.

D’Arcy Coad

D’Arcy Coad is an emerging artist from Western Australia with a practice that bridges contemporary art, fashion and textiles. His contextual and creative influences stem from his upbringing in rural Western Australia. Growing up mostly in the Southern Wheatbelt he experienced slaughters, hunting, mulesing and docking, as well as being accustomed to the sight of roadkill viscera. Death and desire have emerged as two colliding themes that guide his construction of image, fashion and garment.

D’Arcy Coad

D’Arcy Coad is an emerging artist from Western Australia with a practice that bridges contemporary art, fashion and textiles. His contextual and creative influences stem from his upbringing in rural Western Australia. Growing up mostly in the Southern Wheatbelt he experienced slaughters, hunting, mulesing and docking, as well as being accustomed to the sight of roadkill viscera. Death and desire have emerged as two colliding themes that guide his construction of image, fashion and garment.

Roderick Sprigg

Born in Merredin in 1979 and raised in Leonora and Mukinbudin, Roderick Sprigg is a multi-disciplinary artist whose art practice centres on the politics of masculinity in regional communities. His work explores complex internal dialogues, experiences of mortality and the sanctity of human life. In projects such as Occasional Tables Sprigg facilitates inter-generational dialogues by drawing family members together to collaboratively craft coffee tables. In GOLD he embodies the mythic male figure of the prospector to explore personal family narratives and discourses of heroism and failure.

Roderick Sprigg

Born in Merredin in 1979 and raised in Leonora and Mukinbudin, Roderick Sprigg is a multi-disciplinary artist whose art practice centres on the politics of masculinity in regional communities. His work explores complex internal dialogues, experiences of mortality and the sanctity of human life. In projects such as Occasional Tables Sprigg facilitates inter-generational dialogues by drawing family members together to collaboratively craft coffee tables. In GOLD he embodies the mythic male figure of the prospector to explore personal family narratives and discourses of heroism and failure.

Tarryn Gill

Psychoanalytic ideas have long played a role in the work of Tarryn Gill. With a practice encompassing sculpture, photography, video, theatre set/costume design and performance she is interested in exploring the liminal space between the personal and the collective, the contemporary and the ancient. Her aesthetics and materials are heavily informed by her background in competitive calisthenics and dance from the age of 5 to 25. Her art making processes now mine this source material to assert the value of the feminine and personal against the masculine model of genius that has defined much of art history.

Tarryn Gill

Psychoanalytic ideas have long played a role in the work of Tarryn Gill. With a practice encompassing sculpture, photography, video, theatre set/costume design and performance she is interested in exploring the liminal space between the personal and the collective, the contemporary and the ancient. Her aesthetics and materials are heavily informed by her background in competitive calisthenics and dance from the age of 5 to 25. Her art making processes now mine this source material to assert the value of the feminine and personal against the masculine model of genius that has defined much of art history.

Tyrown Waigana

Tyrown Waigana is a Wandandi Noongar (Aboriginal) and Ait Koedhal (Torres Strait Islander) multidisciplinary artist living in Perth. Using surreal humour and wry observations he creates works that explore the intersection between myths, legends and everyday life. His diverse output spans painting, sculpture, animation and graphic design, which combines colourful abstraction with pop culture and Indigenous art references.

Tyrown Waigana

Tyrown Waigana is a Wandandi Noongar (Aboriginal) and Ait Koedhal (Torres Strait Islander) multidisciplinary artist living in Perth. Using surreal humour and wry observations he creates works that explore the intersection between myths, legends and everyday life. His diverse output spans painting, sculpture, animation and graphic design, which combines colourful abstraction with pop culture and Indigenous art references.