2018
JAN MULLEN

ARTIST STATEMENT
HISTORY herSTORY – New life in a harsh foreign land

In the early tenuous days of The Swan River Colony, men easily outnumbered the women and women worked as hard as the men.

Female settlers worked alongside their spouses – clearing the land, farming, making and tending their abodes whilst raising the family, making a home, managing workers and trying to maintain community.

Most of my artwork this year is the result of a very narrow distillation of broad research. Generally I am interested in exploring the notions of home, family, communities, everyday life, women’s work and craft.

I honed in on three aspects; hunting birds to feed a starving community, women’s writing (in letters, journals and household ledgers) and the 19th century fashion for bling and originality - including taxidermy bird bodies as decoration.

I revelled in a varied use of materials and techniques – clay, paint, digital print on paper and fabric, found feathers, machine stitch, hand stitch and collage.