Artists at Home
Karina Dias Pires
Thames and Hudson
Reviewed by Emma-Kate Wilson
Inspired by great women artists, such as O’Keeffe, Kngwarreye, Bourgeois, and others, writer and photographer Karina Dias Pires presents an insight into the female role models of the Australian art industry today. Spanning a range of material, painting, photography, installation, moving images, sculpture, fibre, and ceramics, Artists at Home steps inside the homes and studios of thirty-two women artists across Australia.
The book is laid out with intimate photographs taken within the artists’ homes or studios – filled with art. For each artist, a section of text written by Dias Pires outlines their goals, ambitions, and motivations, while a Q&A delves into their inspirations, routines, and reflections on balancing an art/work/life, offering advice for being a full-time artist. For example, Prudence Flint shares, “You’ve got to learn how to manage and use your critical voice constructively for the growth of the work.” Kate Tucker adds, “There are so many ways to be an artist and no right or wrong. But at times it can be isolating and very tough, as well as extremely fun and exciting.”
Artists at Home delights and intrigues continually throughout. The homes and studio are raw; bursting with life. Piles of creative mess and the everyday contrast the completed artworks that hang on the wall or at other times complement them as the process is revealed. “Each portrait captures a small part of these artists in a moment in time: what emerges is a powerful woman shining with inner strength and comfortable in her skin,” shares Dias Pires.
Artists at Home invites self-acceptance, making noise, and creating space – welcoming a new wave of art that pushes women artists first into the discourse, challenging (hopefully) the statistics that leave them behind.
Originally published in Art Almanac’s April 2023 print issue
