Joan Ross
You were my biggest regret: diary entry 1806, 2022
oil & alkyd paint on stretched PVC with printed perspex backing
150 x 120 cm
Finalist in the 2022 Archibald Prize
Finalist in the 2022 Archibald Prize
Joan Ross is known for her interdisciplinary practice that confronts Australia’s colonial legacy. In this portrait, she has painted herself as a colonial woman holding the stump of a tree...
Joan Ross is known for her interdisciplinary practice that confronts Australia’s colonial legacy. In this portrait, she has painted herself as a colonial woman holding the stump of a tree with a deep tenderness, like a lover.
‘There is regret in my eyes as I look back through time, thinking about the damage caused through colonisation,’ says Ross.
‘Behind me is a watercolour of Castle Hill from 1802. My portrait fuses with this historical picture of colonisation. She sees, and we see, that she is a part of it, part of the greed and all the sadness and destruction colonisation has caused.
Trees have been on earth for approximately 400 million years. 'As a child seeing a tree cut down, I would imagine all the insects and spiders and birds living in them. I wondered where they would go, I envisaged them trudging along in a long line looking for a new home.’
Born in Scotland and based in Sydney, Ross was a finalist in the 2021 Archibald. She won the 2017 Sulman and was the judge for this year’s Prize.
‘There is regret in my eyes as I look back through time, thinking about the damage caused through colonisation,’ says Ross.
‘Behind me is a watercolour of Castle Hill from 1802. My portrait fuses with this historical picture of colonisation. She sees, and we see, that she is a part of it, part of the greed and all the sadness and destruction colonisation has caused.
Trees have been on earth for approximately 400 million years. 'As a child seeing a tree cut down, I would imagine all the insects and spiders and birds living in them. I wondered where they would go, I envisaged them trudging along in a long line looking for a new home.’
Born in Scotland and based in Sydney, Ross was a finalist in the 2021 Archibald. She won the 2017 Sulman and was the judge for this year’s Prize.