Jane Théau
In Limbo
Cotton thread and tarlatan
Each approx. 40x5x160cm
$2000 ea
about
the
work
In Limbo is a response to the history of the Quarantine Station. These portraits express what I imagine were the residents' feelings while they were here experiencing sicknesses like smallpox, typhus, scarlet fever, measles and the bubonic plague in a strange land where nothing was familiar or familial. They had arrived on the far side of the world, suspended between their past lives and the new unknown life awaiting them in Australia, probably feeling adrift and scared and wondering whether they had made the right decision to embark on such a radical journey.
bio
Jane Théau’s art practice is multi-disciplinary, encompassing sculpture and installation, collaboration with performers, curation, and the facilitation of community art projects. Awards she has received include the Rookwood Sculpture Prize, the Grace Cossington Smith Early Career Award, the Australian Design Centre Award and residencies at Hill End, Bundanon, and Textilsetur, Iceland. Group exhibitions include the 2021 Blake Prize, the 2020 Tamworth Textile Triennial, the Lester Portrait Prize and the Wangaratta Contemporary Textile Award. Her lace portraits recently featured onstage in Sue Healey’s On View: Panorama Suite which toured Japan, Sydney and Hong Kong in 2020-21. Jane has a PhD in contemporary art from ANU, a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Applied Science from UTS.
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