2022 HSC Visual Arts Catalogue of Works

Cover image: David Liddle Photography, 1999. Repurposing of The Croydon Hotel to ‘The Croydon’ Centre for Art, Design & Technology.

PRINCIPAL’S WELCOME

One of the wonderful characteristics of PLC Sydney Year 12 2022 is their capacity to support and encourage each other. They are a positive and unified group.

This enables them to be confident in their designs, and to express their creativity. I am very excited to present their work to you as it stands at this point in the HSC year.

As you peruse the variety of presentations I ask you to consider the huge range of backgrounds and qualities possessed by each student. We are proud of each student, and we are proud of the staff who guide them through the process from a blank page to the exceptional work you see on show tonight.

Dr Paul Burgis Principal, PLC Sydney

CAPTAIN’S ADDRESS

Despite the many challenges of our final year, starting behind our laptops with muted zoom sessions and pyjama pants as an essential part of the uniform. We managed to push through and were blessed to have the rest of our year at school. However, the enormity of taking on a major work remained a constant in each of our minds. This year challenged us, to rethink how we thought, to push our problem solving skills and to truly have faith that our ideas held purpose and in ourselves. I am so proud and happy to congratulate everyone on their outstanding achievements. It is not only the final works that you see in the Gallery, it is the many adjustments, reconfiguring, brainstorming and the constant thought of how can I make this better? It is the achievement of executing a vision into a reality.

To my cohort, I am not only so impressed and proud of the quality works we have all produced. But I’m so grateful for the sense of community and sisterhood we have created. I feel completely safe to brainstorm ideas and equally take criticism and suggestions as we all are growing and helping each other throughout this intense and wonderful creative process. It’s such a pleasure to share in each girl’s triumphs as it’s an experience we all feel connected to, and the sense of determination to creatively solve problems I think is a vital skill which we will all take with us into our future endeavours.

I would like to give a special thanks to the teachers who stood with us, side by side, guiding and acting as sources of inspiration, mentors and at times our heroes. When it gets to that point of overwhelming stress and feeling as though there is no hope. Our teachers were the ones who led us out of this darkness, and revealed new perspectives and ways of viewing these problems, transforming our worries and doubts into tools of motivation and drive to fix and adjust; and most importantly to never give up.

I’m so grateful we have this opportunity to gather together in celebrating these wonderful achievements and gratifying each and every girls’ work.

Miss Lara Marassa Art & Design Captain 2022

VISUAL ARTS

The dedication and creative vision of our 2022 Visual Arts cohort is nothing short of exceptional. This publication aims to provide a glimpse of the final Bodies of Work and insight into each artist’s intention and material practice. As a group, a dominant and accomplished engagement with painting is evident, which is equalled in standard by works in drawing, ceramics and photomedia. Through their choice of medium, each young woman has worked with dedication to hone their skills, develop their individual style, and refine their aesthetics, and each have over time grown to become independent, authentic and confident young artists.

The final submitted artworks not only reveal technical nuance but also provide an invitation for the audience to bear witness to aspects of individual life experiences, they become an entry point we view through the lens of each artist’s astute observations of the world around them. What we don’t see here, however, is the hours of time spent in the studio, the frustration, fear and doubt which challenges all artists behind the scenes. Ultimately, through grit and determination, this struggle has allowed the work to improve and evolve.

The Visual Arts offers a unique form of heartfelt communication that holds great depth and significancea conversation that cannot be expressed in words alone. These artists have something to say to us, and through the visual image, we engage in their understanding and points of view.

Congratulations to our HSC artists of 2022, it has been an honour to guide you through this process and share the pride of the College, your families and friends for what you have achieved. We all acknowledge your dedication and bravery, and thank you for sharing your creative visions with us.

Ms Jo Knight Head of Faculty, Visual Arts

Visual Arts Bodies of Work

Image: Astrid Dickson, detail from her Body of Work

Palm Sunday, 9 April 2017

Sculpture

My Egyptian heritage and Coptic Christian upbringing in a western cosmopolitan environment, affected by current world events, has had a significant impact on my artwork. As a result of the rise of ISIS in the region and the establishment of an Islamic Caliphate, Christians became targets, including Egyptian churches. The blasts on Palm Sunday, 9 April, 2017 on Saint Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral, in Alexandria, catastrophically broke the peace of those that were gathered for prayer, resulting in bloodshed of many and destruction of the building. My work is a reflection on this event, and aspects of religion including positivity as well as how it can be infiltrated by small pockets of extreme views.

Using the fragility of white porcelain clay, I have represented personal, sentimental and sacred items that are connected to the purity and innocence that was ruined by the bombings. The scarlet backdrop, which resembles an altar curtain, also represents the blood of the people who were torn apart in this heartless act of terrorism and extremism. The leaves growing from the individual remnants are derived from the Bible, where they embody growth, life, and perseverance. Within the film, the smoke rising from the incense glides across the installation symbolising the destruction, but also acts as a vehicle to carry the prayers of the parishioners to communicate the hope and endurance of our faith.

Georgia Conway Strung Out

Drawing

Through drawing a variety of still life objects, the aim of Strung Out is to represent the significance of the sport of Rhythmic Gymnastics and the extreme role it plays in my life including the challenges that it comes with at an elite level. Each of these objects portray a part of the sport, whether it be linked to competition or the hard hours training and preparing, and each of these objects feature a small imperfection to reveal the hidden anxieties and pressure that rhythmic gymnasts face not only physically, but mentally and emotionally. Also enhancing this narrative is the emphasis of shadows within each composition, indicating that multiple light sources are shining over them. The incorporation of this element, is intended to show the audience that as an athlete, it is easy to feel constantly critiqued as every move is being observed and scrutinised, especially the intimidating feelings generated from being the only athlete performing on the competition floor.

Alexandra Abdelmalek

Anita Culhane Emergence

Painting

Our natural environment, both diverse and changing, can evoke contradictory emotions of starkness, intrigue and lush beauty, yet the apparent discord is bound by the constant nurturing embrace of Mother Nature. The temporality of nature and its relativity to change encountered throughout one’s life is both fragile and tenuous. In my work, I have portrayed through acrylic painting, elemental images of nature through abstracted compositions derived from textural macro photographs that aim to represent the energies sourced from the cycle of life and death. My message is a positive and aspirational one, as nature ultimately is capable of regeneration and my works are structured to emphasise nature’s unstoppable life force in order to communicate hope during challenging times.

Astrid Dickson Fragile Memories

Drawing

We unintentionally place value on the things that don’t matter. My Body of Work delves into the arbitrary hoarding of items we take part in, with the permanency of the pen resembling the lifelong personal importance inanimate objects can hold. Amongst the mound of cardboard boxes you will find a seemingly random collection of utilities; mundane preservations of memories, moments and people, things that attribute a great sense of personal identity to individuals within the depths of their sociocultural landscapes. My Body of Work was influenced by the likes of Andy Warhol’s Brillo Boxes and Fiona Hall’s Give a dog a bone whose use of cardboard boxes comment on consumerism, materialism and mass production within our contemporary world.

Kaitlyn Halkidis Hydro–therapy

Painting

My series of oil paintings depict differing sources of water to express the tranquility, vitality and sense of peace one can feel when immersed within it. Growing up near the coast, the ocean has always been a safe place for me, and somewhere I go for relief and to escape the daily stresses of life. I have always felt the safest and calmest surrounded by water, and I intended to portray this deep emotional connection through my younger brother’s experience. He is portrayed in bodies of water both contained and free, representing the soothing effect water has on one’s body and mind. I have also incorporated an immersive sensory experience for the audience to share the experience water has through its slow, rhythmic sounds which is often used as a form of relaxation therapy and sleep aid. Both listening to the sounds, and physically being surrounded by water is proven to have a strong calming effect on one’s body.

To The Slaughter ... Painting

Do you ever reflect on your own consumption? The waste, the suffering and the carcass of a life you left behind? To The Slaughter… is a commentary piece on the phenomenon that is mass food production - specifically red meat, and the impact that the grotesque over-production of this product has on the global environment and humanity alike. The glistening red meat rendered in oil paint on wood, has an ambiguous source, potentially reminiscent of human flesh. Deep hues of crimson, indigo and ochre create a confrontational and abject piece on carnality, gluttony and over consumption. To gourmandise in glistening, mass-produced flesh is a carnivorous behaviour. Gluttony is a vice that has plagued humans for countless generations, and now, modern western science and technology allows for our greed to become cheap and plentiful. My work aims to remind the viewer of the reality and origin of our food sources that are often disguised by the veneer of packaging and supermarket display. Perhaps when one lays their eyes on the sinew, the tissue, the flesh of meat, one is first repelled - yet if we can see past this, there may be room for greater truth in our consumption, and an appreciation of its aesthetic beauty.

Lucy Hammond

Yehna Jeong Sleep Paralysis

Painting

Every night for three years, as my eyes got heavier, my body fell into a state of paralysis. Sleep paralysis is a temporary inability to move or speak while falling asleep or upon waking. Hallucinations associated with sleep paralysis might explain reports of paranormal phenomena such as ghosts or the presence of demons or evil possessions. In my personal experience, it took me to scary, unfamiliar places and I saw images morphed into my worst fears. My series of oil paintings express my emotions and experiences with sleep paralysis to overcome my fears and portray these haunting images somewhat beautifully. The first four works each have an item familiar to the bedroom environment which are placed in a natural landscape, causing the objects to become foreign and unnatural, representing the unexplainable emotions I experience during sleep paralysis. The lightbulb installation is a symbol of my fear of the dark. Although sleep paralysis is not a universal phenomenon, my intention is that my work speaks and connects to everyone and gives whoever views it hope to overcome their fears.

Georgia

Koletsios

Tainted past

Painting

My series of paintings aim to convey a period of my childhood that represent a part of me, and my experience with dissociation that stems from childhood trauma. Through a limited purple and red colour palette, the acrylic paintings on canvas offer blurred memories through a selection of cropped compositions centering around what was once the family home. A tainted past, that is now left behind.

enter the fray

Painting

My Body of Work is an attempt to capture the human experience of inner turmoil, stress and anxiety which can permeate through both our physical body and our psyche. Drawing from personal experience of the pressures of academic competition and striving for perfection, I chose woven material as the subject matter, metaphorically representing the tension and strain which is associated with forces of change in our lives. By nature, we share the same unwillingness to appreciate and welcome change. I wanted my work to reveal the psychological internal effects of change, with the threads curved in organic and jagged forms, almost mirroring the cycle of one’s inner psychological stress patterns created when attempting to grapple and deal with change. I hope the audience will respond to my paintings not simply as realistically rendered paintings, but to emotionally engage and immerse themselves within the frays, having a moment of self-reflection, meditation and introspection. The center hessian work includes both tightly woven and loose threads. I intentionally aimed to reveal both the tendency towards the nostalgia and comfort of the past, whilst simultaneously trying to adjust and fit into a post state of change. No matter how hard we try to grasp onto the tightly woven past, that represents a sense of security and inevitably, we must ‘enter the fray’...

Foreclosure

Painting

In my lifetime, I have watched many businesses close down. My Body of Work addresses how multinational companies dominate the market causing small businesses such as the iconic local corner store, that once existed as a part of the Australian vernacular, to go bankrupt. Coles, Netflix, Woolworths, Amazon and Costco exemplify companies that have led to the death of the authentic small businesses that once flourished. Video on demand and online shopping services eliminate the need for video rental stores, local convenience stores and the corner shop. I represented Costco akin to a temple, looking superior, powerful and influential in contrast to the authentic, lived-in and community-loved small business facades that are fast becoming enmeshed in our cultural memory.

Lara Marassa

Lucy Rader

Sach Calvary

Painting

Calvary metaphorically exhibits the biblical story of the crucifixion apprised through the contemporary lens of my own religious upbringing. The title is associated with the site of the crucifixion and more broadly with an experience of mental suffering. My paintings represent the fear of aging, and a detachment from family as one grows up. Each painting epitomises my own childhood memories and reflects them through visual appropriations of acclaimed Christian works of art merged with domestic familial settings.

Skye Smallfield Tribal Princess - Urban Queen

Photomedia

The intention of my work is to examine the issue of Apartheid and racial and gender inequity. This series is a response to my personal experience of being raised in South Africa and moving to Australia six years ago. In my home country, it was evident to see the divide between the Black and White people and how women were treated with no equal rights, and were silenced. I explore this issue through my work, acknowledging how women were, and continue to be, mistreated, undermined, and restricted from doing what men can do. The six prints read as a narrative of the path to empowerment. Starting with a woman with no voice or strength, over time, she works hard for selfdetermination and to be treated equally resulting in where she finds her voice and stands up for what she believes in. While my central protagonist is female, my work aims to speak for both Black men and women. During the production of my Body of Work, I worked in a digital photographic studio, using lights, props and backdrops, inspired by the practice of Atong Atem and Christian Thompson. The dark backdrop aims to draw the audience in and to intensify the pain she endures, also referencing the aesthetics of historical ethnographic photography, however, her hand gestures reveal how she is silenced and has no voice. The theatrical green backdrop represents a contemporary perspective and boldly states that she has found her voice demanding that people should not be discriminated against because of their skin colour but valued because of their individual character. Ultimately and confidently she transforms from Tribal Princess - Urban Queen

Alexandra

Olivia Stavrianos Echo or Narcissist?

Drawing

My work explores the concept that life isn’t simply black and white, but is often grey. Influenced by the Greek myth Echo and Narcissus, about a nymph that falls in love with a god that only loves himself, my imaginative narrative tells a dreamlike interpretation of the tragic story. Themes of unrequited love and self absorption, are shown through an exploration of the character’s world through metaphorical mirrors and vanity to show the perception of the self and of others. My surrealist artwork seeks to show how even in both the unrealistic utopian and dystopian worlds, nothing is simply good or evil but is instead a combination of both. Through my own imagination, I seek to reveal the subconscious imaginings of my own mind and break the boundaries of contemporary social conventions. The Australian Fairy Penguin is the protagonist in my work as they are the only flightless birds that swim and are paradoxical symbols that when life has constraints, you must utilise your abilities to survive and find freedom from adversity. In today’s polarising society of social media, there is little freedom for individual thought and expression for young developing minds.

Lilian Stock Entanglement in international waters

Painting

Much of my practice employs a cool toned palette, using acrylic paint to represent the viseral and gruesome appearance of dissected fish found on shelves in the marketplace. Impressions of netting uphold an ethereal quality within the lines that echos minimalism, in contrast with the painted flesh and skin of fish which intends to evoke feelings of physiological deterioration. The visual dialogue across the series relates to issues present in my own experience of the world - sometimes deeply personal and at others, being concerned with global social and political problems surrounding the environment and the impacts of overfishing. My work examines the negative impacts of globalisation on the fishing industry within the politically charged context of international waters. Exploring the marine animals varied structural features of tone, texture and repetition, I present fish as something visually rich, embracing both their abject and aesthetic qualities in my work. Extending my material practice, I have employed monoprinting techniques learnt from my time at the NAS Intensive Studio Practice program to further explore the impact of mass food production, and suggestion of the physical and ephemeral qualities of ghost nets within the ocean.

Zara Wiesner Dispossessed

Painting

A home is a privilege that many of us take for granted. My Body of Work aims to represent those who are impacted by homelessness and housing instability, acting as a documentation of spaces that were previously inhabited yet become abruptly abandoned. Inspired by the impact of redevelopment and gentrification on global urban communities and its impact on the shortage of public housing, I have attempted to represent the impact on those in need through images of isolation and alienation. Using the medium of acrylic paint, I have included symbolism of fading light, domestic objects and the recurring motif of graffiti tags to signify personal traces of those who once inhabited these spaces and the fading evidence of their individual identity and contribution to society.

Painting

Wu

(Have you eaten?)

As someone of Chinese heritage, food in my culture represents love, health and prosperity. Greeting someone with “Have you eaten?” is how we show our hospitality. Just like every culture, there are dishes and recipes that are passed down generationally and modified uniquely within each family. Home-made meals are a form of love and bring a sense of comfort that is found through security and familiarity. There is nothing quite like a family dinner handmade with love.

Angela

Isabella Zhang

*MADE IN CHINA

Drawing

Through our westernised context, the subject of culture has grown to be prevalent, attempting to act like we understand it, yet is often miscommunicated. The commercialisation of the culturally significant objects that I have chosen to draw, apply to how culture has been materialised and misinterpreted to the point where the meaning is lost in translation, or completely disregarded. “Made In China” is a popular slogan in our mass produced society and is now used in a derogatory way, synonymously known for its ‘poor quality’. Further, the fakeness of this label perpetuated through platforms such as social media, affect broad perceptions of this culture and nation; our judgemental and hypocritical society negatively changes how we view it. These objects are not necessarily a part of Chinese culture, but are now associated with it, disregarding the significance of other Asian cultures. Not everything is Chinese and not every Asian is Chinese, so what is *MADEINCHINA ?

Acknowledgements

PLC Sydney would like to acknowledge the dedication, support, care and professionalism of our Visual Arts teaching staff at The Croydon in 2022. Thank you to Ms Jo Knight, Head of Visual Arts Faculty and Visual Arts teacher, and Acting Curator Andrew Paxton. Thank you to Miss Lara Marassa for her professionalism in performing the role of Art & Design Captain in 2022.

The quality of the HSC works exhibitions would not be possible without our wonderful support staff at The Croydon. Thank you to Mr Andrew Paxton, Adelaide Perry Gallery Manager and Senior Technical Assistant for his skill and patience in preparing works for exhibition and installation as well as the support of Mrs Karmen Martin, Administration and Mrs Nicole Rader, Art and Design Assistant.

Located in The Croydon Corner, Hennessy and College Streets Croydon NSW

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