POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Artwork in the form of a tiara by Fiona Hall

Object No. 2014/113/1

Fiona Hall AO (b.1953) is one of Australia's leading contemporary artists whose career has spanned over 50 years. Hall made this unique tiara in 1990, for friend and subject of her photographic work, artist and academic, Paula Dawson. Hall works in a range of mediums, from photography in her earlier years to her iconic sardine can sculptures sprouting botanical specimens from the early 1990s. Her work is quintessentially Australian and also grapples with big political, social and environmental issues of contemporary life such as global warming and colonialism. This tiara is made from sardine cans carefully manipulated into the form of the xanthorrhoea plant. The xanthorrhoea plant is repeatedly represented in Hall's work alongside other Australian and world flora. This is a rare example of Hall's work, only having made two tiaras from sardine cans during her career and this is the only one personally made for a friend. From her early photographic work through to more recent exquisitely beaded sculptures, Hall is renowned for precision and labour in technique. Curator, Julie Ewington describes how, 'for the interminable labour Hall lavished on making the work is recapitulated, in the long, slow looking of her audiences, who become dazzled, then captivated, by its density and detail'.* Born in the Sydney suburb of Oatley, Hall completed a diploma in painting in 1975 at the National Art School, Sydney and a Masters of Fine Arts (Photography) in 1982, Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, New York. Hall has exhibited extensively since the early 1980s, including a retrospective of her work in 2005 titled, 'Fiona Hall: Force Field' at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. Hall also taught Photostudies at the South Australian School of Art, University of South Australia, Adelaide from 1983-1997. In addition, Hall has also completed a number of key commissions including the Fern Garden at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Her work is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney and the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. This is an extremely fine example of contemporary Australian jewellery by celebrated contemporary artist Fiona Hall. Since the early 1990s she has taken everyday objects, transforming then into striking works of art. *Ewington, Julie, 'Fiona Hall', Piper Press, Annandale, Australia, 2005 Rebecca Evans, Assistant Curator, 2014.