Sydney-based artist Fiona Lowry is the recipient of last year’s highly coveted Archibald prize for her painting, Penelope Seidler — her third Archibald entry. Lowry, a mum of one, is astoundingly only the ninth woman to win in 93 years. She also won the 2008 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize for her naked self-portrait, What I Assume You Shall Assume, set in the Belanglo State Forest, the menacing scene of the backpacker murders. A highly recommended finalist in both the Wynne and Sulman Prizes last year as well as a finalist in this year’s Sulman Prize, Lowry admits the Archibald has opened an “amazing” world. Her roller coaster ride since winning has included spreads in fashion bible Vogue and champagne lunches in her honour with Harper’s Bazaar.
By Jo Casamento, for the Rescu. Women of Influence series
She was born and raised amid the sand-filled Eastern Beaches fringed with crystal waters. But that sunny environment belies the dark, eerie and traumatic subject matter artist Fiona Lowry, 40, is drawn to.
The compulsion to explore such unnerving themes — often of the world’s darkest underworld — is not even something she herself can put a finger on, even though it’s certainly what drives her work. On appearances it seems intriguingly at odds with the pleasant disposition of the unassuming artist who delights in being inconspicuous.
She suspects her exploration of the duality of life and death, love and hate, trauma, sexuality and despair are the product of her Catholic upbringing, the idea of heaven and hell, guilt and sorrow, comfort and pain utterly compelling to her.
“What interests me about these moments or ideas that I’m engaged with is that they traverse the co-existence of light and dark as an expression of life and death, love and hate, the rational and irrational. In some of my earlier work I painted the landscape of Belanglo State Forest, which is forever tainted with the events of the backpacker murders but it’s also this really beautiful forest. Our perception creates our experience of our environment and growing up in a deeply religious family I was aware of the possibility of how the landscape could become animated with hidden energies,” she explains of the prize–winning portrait, which shocked when she placed her naked self in the sinister environment of Ivan Milat’s murders.
As a 16-year-old she read Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment and recalls feeling compelled by the ideas in the book that dealt with the moral dilemmas of a man who felt like he could perform good deeds to counterbalance his crimes.
Other influences have included Nick Cave’s songs, the “divine terror” of the Old Testament and the work of painter Francis Bacon through her interest in the religious imagery of William Blake whose death mask Bacon painted. “His work has been described as the stuff of nightmares but it’s a compelling look at the human condition,” she notes.
She explored these dark themes using a unique airbrushing technique she has pioneered with a spray gun. Other subjects include the massacres of the indigenous, bushrangers, Ned Kelly’s crimes and she is currently working on works telling a love story about Australia’s first bushranger and the concept of Australia imagined as a place thought to be populated by demons and monsters.
They all point to the “duality” of the Australian landscape, which she says is steeped in great beauty but at the same time a sense of menace. “The idea a beautiful place can hold something quite dark or foreboding within it is fascinating,” she says. “I grew up in the environment where the world had a bit of darkness … Samantha Knight’s disappearance and Ivan Milat and other events meant there were paranoid spaces, even though they were beautiful spaces, but they were significant at the time and did change the way you saw the environment. That really impacted on me.”
While her works and the subtext that informs them are deeply complex, simpler is Lowry’s career path to being an artist. There was never a choice, she says, rather, it was a path that chose her. Even then, her calling was not a loud one. Her drive, she says, was just always quietly expected and never in doubt.
As a child switching schools many times, art was a constant. Always present and one she could not resist. Not that she ever attempted to.
“I still don’t know when I chose [to become an artist] — it was just always something I felt quite driven to do. There was nothing else I really wanted to do — it just sort of happened,” she explains. “I was always interested in drawing and looking at people and figures and I just kept doing it and I never really thought it wouldn’t work out. I knew I had the potential to do it.”
One of six children, her mother exposed her to the art world early on through visits to the art gallery. In her teenage years, it was her mum who was instrumental in continuing the interest, investing in an art teacher, which gave her the skill set she desired.
But while quiet, the notion was assured, her confidence never questioned and neither was the idea of it not working out. There was never a Plan B and her parents never pressured her to have one either, so assured were they of her talent and convinced hard work would pay off.
“You can’t think of it not working out, I just felt the more energy you put into it — if you’re doing it constantly it will work out. I knew that if I threw everything at it, I would be successful. That’s what kept me going.”
Although her desire to create has never wavered, like many success stories, Lowry has faced setbacks. She dropped out a number of times from Rozelle’s Sydney College of the Arts after entering straight from high school, and admits she had a “pretty rocky start”. She got a job and moved out of home to gain life experience before returning and completing her degree.
“I just scraped through in those initial years. But I was lucky to have had some people who believed in me and I managed to make something of that time. In retrospect I needed those years to learn more about who I was.”
Trying out various mediums, Lowry says she returned to painting and it’s what drives her to this day. “For me painting is a daily practice and one of the wonderful things abut being an artist is that it doesn’t stop and there are many more shows to come and I really envisage myself making things for a long time.”
It’s her real life — Lowry is mum to three-year-old Vincent (named after her and her partner’s favourite Paul Kelly) — which also informs her work, even though it has wreaked havoc with the way she paints.
“I have less time painting now, but it’s more constructive time painting,” she laughs. “Before I’d float in and out whenever I wanted to, now I have set days when I work and have to make the best of those days!”
She admits there are times when flitting between worlds can be tricky to navigate.
“There are moments when it’s hard, when you’re on a deadline for a show — I get totally absorbed in that moment and want it to be the best work. But I wouldn’t have it any other way, being a mum has been amazing … for me it’s important to step out of my job for a moment and enjoy being with my family or travel or read.”
Lowry sees no harm in self-doubt and criticism. In fact it is these two things which propel her forward. She believes they are good for you and over time she has come to appreciate exactly how to take this anxiety and use it to better her work.
“I still doubt myself all the time. But that’s important to push you further so you don’t become complacent. I’ve learned how to use it. I was really unsure of myself but something was always driving me forward.”
She took recent criticism from someone she admires and respects in the art world as a positive and ultimately made it fodder for her artwork.
“My initial response was ‘wooaah’, but I can understand where he’s coming from and I can see what he’s saying and I can stand back and say, ‘That’s a really interesting point’.”
It would never waver her from her creative approach. Her motivations remain pure no matter what the commercial market is calling out for. Criticism simply makes her “more knowledgeable and aware”.
“Whether it would change you off your path — well, I don’t think so, but I am looking at my work and aware it’s not always going to stay the same. I think it gives me an understanding of an aspect of the work that I didn’t have before.”
If she could give budding art students any advice, it would be pretty simple: Work hard, be fearless and be true to yourself.
“My best piece of advice would be to practise. You have to do it every day. Put it out there in the world. Don’t hide it away.
Be judged and let yourself be judged. You can learn so much from criticism. It creates growth. Most importantly I’ve been honest to who I am and exploring the themes I’m drawn to.”
Fast Five:
Fave App: For me technology is a distraction so I try and limit myself but I do find Instagram compelling because it’s so visual.
Singer or Dancer? I had ballet and singing lessons as a kid — both were dismal events — I was terrified of being on a stage.
Book Worm or Film Buff? I grew up without TV so I have a long-time love of reading and I love the intimacy of curling up with a book.
Favourite Indulgence? So many but a glass of red at the end of a big day is a good thing.
Early Bird or Night Owl? For a long time I would have said night owl but these days I’m more of an early bird working to the rhythm of a three-year-old boy.
The Women of Influence series is brought to you by Dr LeWinn’s #iDiscovered
The Women of Influence Series: Sarah Wilson | Fiona Lowry | Wendy Harmer | Ita Buttrose | Leigh Sales | Tina Arena