Gillian Mann (11 May 1939 – 29 December 2007), English/Australian artist who won the

Blake Prize for Religious Art The Blake Prize, formerly the Blake Prize for Religious Art, is an List of Australian art awards, Australian art prize awarded for art that explores spirituality. Since the inaugural prize in 1951, the prize was awarded annually from 1951 to 2 ...

with the woodcut print on paper titled ''The Chest'' in 1990. She was born in

Derby, England Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gain ...

and moved to

Canberra, Australia Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The c ...

in 1971 and retired to the small town of

Binalong Binalong (Bine-a-long) is a village in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia, 37 km north-west of Yass in Yass Valley Shire. At the , Binalong and the surrounding area had a population of 543. History Original inhabitan ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

in the 1990s. She was a

printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed techniq ...

lecturer at the

Canberra School of Art The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

. She specialised in printmaking techniques and changed to

digital art Digital art refers to any artistic work or practice that uses digital technology as part of the creative or presentation process, or more specifically computational art that uses and engages with digital media. Since the 1960s, various names ...

in the late 1990s. Other bodies of work included glass sculptures. She died in 2007 from

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

and is survived by her only son, Julian Mann.

Art

The art of Gillian Mann is primarily concerned with the different visual languages used throughout Western history. Her use of

iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

and mediums is informed by an awareness of the meanings they hold within art history and the 'collective memory' of the West. Her practice has been imbued with a social conscience, moulded by a childhood in post-war England, and the social activism of the 1960s.

Feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

in the 1970s informed her deconstruction of gender and power in the West and has shaped her practice ever since. Immigrating to Australia in 1971 gave her a perspective on the culture she knew, allowing her to perceive other possibilities.Anthea Gunn (2004). ''The art of Gillian Mann'', Introduction p.6

Art

Notes

Further reading