Marie Elizabeth Rita McMahon (born September 1953) is an Australian artist, known for her paintings, prints, posters, drawings, and design work. Born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, she has worked in various communities of

Australian Aboriginal people Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...

and works in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. Her work has focused on social, political, and environmental issues. Her posters about Aboriginal rights and Aboriginal life appear in major gallery collections in Australia.

Biography

McMahon was born in

, Australia, in September 1953. She grew up on

Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

bases in Darwin, Australia, at

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

near Sydney, and at HMAS Albatross, a

naval base A naval base, navy base, or military port is a military base, where warships and naval ships are docked when they have no mission at sea or need to restock. Ships may also undergo repairs. Some naval bases are temporary homes to aircraft that us ...

on the South Coast of

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 ...

. During the 1960s her family lived in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

until they returned to Sydney. In 1976, McMahon joined the Earthworks Poster Collective at the Tin Sheds Art Workshop located on the campus of the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

. While working there she contributed to a catalogue of posters that “were sometimes didactic and often provocative”. Recruited with other screen printers by the

Aboriginal Arts Board The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...

, in 1980 she went to the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

to work at

Tiwi Designs Tiwi Designs (Tiwi Designs Aboriginal Corporation) is an Aboriginal art centre located in Wurrumiyanga (formerly Nguiu) on Bathurst Island (one of the Tiwi Islands), north of Darwin, Australia. It holds a notable place in the history of the conte ...

. Later in the 1980s Marie worked as a designer at Redback Graphix in

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wate ...

and Sydney, where she produced well-known posters related to health issues for

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

people.

Works

As a printer she has produced etchings, linocuts, lithographs, and screen prints. Among her many well-known posters are ''You are on Aboriginal land'' and the Australian Government's health promotion ''Beat the grog'' and ''Condoman''

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

awareness campaign, developed in collaboration with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workers. In 1976, Marie began working at The Tin Sheds Workshop at the University of Sydney, where a number of feminists were putting out posters related to feminist issues. In 2015, the Sydney University Gallery held an exhibition titled ''Girls in the Tin Shed;'' Marie had several works in the exhibition. In the 1970s, posters proliferated as inexpensive ways to express ideas through art. When asked about that period McMahon said the women artists "saw themselves as outsiders to the mainstream art establishment, inspired by acts like the

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they were one of the most groundbreaking acts in the history of popular music. They were responsible for ...

and

the Clash The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the wa ...

." Marie also produced prints at the Australian Print Workshop in

Fitzroy Fitzroy or FitzRoy may refer to: People As a given name *Several members of the Somerset family (Dukes of Beaufort) have this as a middle-name: **FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788–1855) ** Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset, 8th Duke of Beau ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

and so was included in a major exhibition ''Place Made: Australian Print Workshop'' held in early 2004 at the

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

(NGA). When the NGA acquired many prints from the Workshop, they acquired more than 90 of McMahon's prints. From 1988 to 1996, McMahon worked in the

Tiwi Islands The Tiwi Islands ( tiw, Ratuati Irara meaning "two islands") are part of the Northern Territory, Australia, to the north of Darwin adjoining the Timor Sea. They comprise Melville Island, Bathurst Island, and nine smaller uninhabited islands, wi ...

while living at Batchelor, south of Darwin. From 2000 to 2001 at she lived

Gunbalanya Gunbalanya (also spelt Kunbarlanja, and historically referred to as Oenpelli) is an Aboriginal Australian town in west Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia, about east of Darwin. The main language spoken in the community is Kunwi ...

Arnhem Land Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia, with the term still in use. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territory capital, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compan ...

, where she produced a series of collages interpreting the landscapes around her. From 2009–2010, her works have dealt with political conflict in

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...

and

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

Women's Domestic Needlework Group

In 1976 McMahon and artist Frances (Budden) Phoenix initiated The Women's Domestic Needlework Group (WDNG) Their aim was to reclaim the creative, but historically undervalued, practices of embroidery, knitting, crochet, lace making and needlework. The most significant of their four exhibitions was the D'Oyley exhibition at

Watters Gallery Watters Gallery (1964–2018) was a private art gallery in Riley Street Sydney, Australia, run by Frank Watters (1934 – May 2020) with his business partners and friends Geoffrey and Alex Legge. It was influential and well-known, hosting exhibit ...

in Sydney in 1979. The exhibition, focusing on women's 'fancywork' featured more than 700 handmade

doilies A doily (also doiley, doilie, doyly, doyley) is an ornamental mat, typically made of paper or fabric, and variously used for protecting surfaces or binding flowers, in food service presentation, or as a head covering or clothing ornamentatio ...

that were collected from various

thrift shop Thrift may refer to: * Frugality * A savings and loan association in the United States * Apache Thrift, a remote procedure call (RPC) framework * Thrift (plant), a plant in the genus ''Armeria'' * Syd Thrift (1929–2006), American baseball execut ...

s. The exhibition was sponsored the Crafts Board of the

Australia Council The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...

Collections

McMahon's prints and posters are held in the

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...

, the Bendigo Regional Gallery, the National Gallery of Australia, the

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most importa ...

, and the

Museum of Contemporary Art Museum of Contemporary Art (often abbreviated to MCA, MoCA or MOCA) may refer to: Africa * Museum of Contemporary Art (Tangier), Morocco, officially le Galerie d'Art Contemporain Mohamed Drissi Asia East Asia * Museum of Contemporary Art Shangha ...

in Sydney. as well as in various regional galleries in Australia and in private collections.

References

External links

Marie Mcmahon
at the National Gallery of Australia
Works by Marie McMahon
at the Art Gallery of New South Wales
Marie McMahon
at the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences {{DEFAULTSORT:McMahon, Marie Australian women artists 1953 births Living people Australian printmakers