Australian Women Artists

Richard Graham
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  • Visual Arts
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Australian women artists have been (and continue to be) underrepresented and undervalued in this country despite the stunning artistic works that have been produced since the mid nineteenth century.  This podcast will shine a light on those artists and their spectacular art works. I'll be talking to the artists themselves, both established and emerging, as well as experts on Australian women artists in history. 

  1. 1d ago

    Kirtika Kain

    Australian Women Artists  The podcast  Ep 73 Kirtika Kain   Kirtika Kain was born in New Delhi, India and raised on Sydney's Northern Beaches, and is making some of the most viscerally powerful art in the country right now.  Kirtika is a printmaker, a painter, and an alchemist. Her works often depict the overlooked. One of the extraordinary ways she does that is by taking materials such as pigments, wax, sindoor, human hair, charcoal, gold and tar and transforming them into works that carry centuries of inherited memory.  Her practice is a reckoning with identity, and what might be termed the silences passed down through generations. But it’s more than that. It's also an act of celebration and the grandeur of a culture that has never been properly archived.  She has shown at the Biennale of Sydney, the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, and in galleries across Australia and Europe.  Head to the link in my bio to hear our conversation.    Kirtika (@kirtika.kain) is represented by Roslyn Oxley9 (@roslynoxley9)   Images 1.   KK in her studio at Parramatta Artists’ Studios, by Garry Trinh 2.   Chronicles, Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2025-26 3.   Mimetics, Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2025-26 4.   2026 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art 5.   Stone Idols, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery 2021

    43 min

  2. May 26

    Lily Mae Martin

    Australian Women Artists   The podcast   Ep 72 Lily Mae Martin   Lily Mae Martin is a remarkable visual artist known for her deeply personal explorations of womanhood, motherhood, and the human condition. Her own strength and resilience in the face of, at times, enormous challenges, is remarkable. She is celebrated for her masterful draughtsmanship, particularly her delicate and detailed cross-hatching using fine liner ink pens, building up thousands upon thousands of tiny lines to produce an incredible tone.  After graduating from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2008 and winning the Lionel Gell travelling scholarship, she spent years refining her practice in Berlin and Wales before returning to Australia.  Her work has always been predominantly figurative, with a love of traditional portraiture approached in an unconventional way — seeking to capture people outside of the polished, self-conscious way they present themselves to a camera. She was a finalist for the 2016 Rick Amor Drawing Prize, Art Gallery of Ballarat; winner of the 2016 Ursula Hoff Institute Emerging Artist Acquisitive Art Award in the National Works on Paper exhibition, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery; and shortlisted for the 2016 Paul Guest Drawing Prize, Bendigo Art Gallery, Adelaide Perry drawing prize 2017 and the Dobell Drawing Prize 2019. Lily Mae also contributed to The Drawing Board – a four part segment exploring drawing on Radio National, The Arts Program in 2022.   Lily Mae (@lilymaemartin) is represented by Scott Livesey Galleries (@scottliveseygalleries)   I referred in our conversation to the National Gallery of Victoria ‘Drop-by Drawing’ programme of which Lily Mae was a part. The link is below https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/multimedia/drop-by-drawing-with-lily-mae-martin/ Head to the link in my bio to have a listen to our conversation.     Images 1.   LMM supplied by artist 2.   Orchid Medley 2025 ink on cotton paper 15 x 20 3.   Waterloo State Forest 2016 ink on paper 76 x 105 4.   Nothing is Untouched (Moorabool) 2024 ink on paper 56 x 76 5.   Emerging

    38 min

  3. May 19

    Julie Fragar

    Australian Women Artists   The podcast   Ep 71 Julie Fragar   Julie Fragar is one of the country's most compelling painters.  For those who are familiar with that name, it could well be because she recently made headlines as the winner of the prestigious 2025 Archibald Prize. What is perhaps not as well known to the general public is that that win marked the 4th time she had been a finalist in that competition. For over two decades, Julie's practice has been described as pushing the intellectual limits of painting. Her works are deeply psychological, and weave together autobiography, historical narratives and intense human experiences.  We had a great conversation talking about her childhood in country NSW, her art school experiences, her visual technique which she describes as not "layering," but rather as images "woven" or "knitted" together, where all images exist simultaneously on the canvas, the incredible works she produced after sitting in the public gallery of the Supreme Court and later when she shadowed a gynaecological surgeon and witnessed the visceral reality of the operating theatre and, of course, her 2025 win in the Archibald Prize.  Julie Fragar’s work is held in major public collections including the Art Gallery of New South Wales; Art Gallery of South Australia; and the Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art. She has been the recipient of major awards and institutional commissions. And Professor Fragar also happens to be Deputy Director (Research) at the Queensland College of Art and Design, Griffith University.    Head to the link in my bio to hear our conversation, or search Australian Women Artists wherever you find your podcasts.        Images 1.   JF, AGNSW, Diana Panuccio 2.   Flagship Mother Multiverse (Justene) 2025 oil on canvas, 240 x 180 (Archibald winner 2025) 3.   Richard, 2020 oil on canvas 180 x 135 (Archibald finalist) 4.   Trust, 2026 oil on canvas 180 x 135 5.   Drown in Your Own Ambition, 2021 6.   Origin of the World (or One Battle After Another), 2026

    32 min

  4. May 12

    Lisa Bale

    Australian Women Artists  The podcast  Ep 70 Lisa Bale    It would probably be fair to say that Lisa Bale sits outside the art establishment.  She lives and works remotely on a bush property situated in the hinterland of Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.  Not having formal art training has been no hindrance to an exceptional talent. In fact, it’s probably a big contributing factor to her success. Her works are witty, surprising, and visually arresting takes on modern-day dilemmas.  Her extensive career spans nearly four decades and she has deliberately cultivated a distinctive aesthetic that marries meticulous technique with deeply personal, often idiosyncratic subject matter.  Her works are held in the permanent collections of prestigious institutions, including the Art Gallery of South Australia, QAGOMA, the University of Queensland Art Museum, Rockhampton Art Gallery, and the private collection of Lord Jeffrey Archer in London.  The work is stunning, and I’m honoured that she’s chosen to have a chat on AWA because in nearly 40 years of creativity, Lisa has told me she has never done this sort of focussed and in-depth interview. For over 20 years Lisa has been represented by Philip Bacon Galleries, one of Australia’s leading art galleries.   From their website... “Meticulously producing hyper-real imagery, Bale uses oil paint and a deft hand to load dramatic scenes with rich metaphor and illusory turns.”    Head to the link in my bio to hear our conversation or search for ‘Australian Women Artists’ wherever you find your podcasts.    Images  1. Lisa Bale, 2026, photograph by Kim Guthrie @iphotographstuff  2. Rose Garden, 2008, 53 x 70 cm, oil on canvas Collection: Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA)  3. Sacred Heart, 2019, 61 x 80 cm, oil on canvas Private Collection  4. Dig, 2011, 68 x 100 cm, oil on canvas Collection: University of Queensland Art Museum  5. Icebreaker, 2014, 49 x 83 cm, oil on canvas Private Collection  6. Inquisition, 2016, 54 x 80 cm, oil on canvas  Collection: Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA)

    25 min

  5. May 5

    Heidi Yardley

    Australian Women Artists  The Podcast  Ep 69 Heidi Yardley     Heidi Yardley is a Melbourne-born painter whose work occupies a significant space in contemporary Australian art — intimate, psychological, and immediately recognisable.   ‘[Heidi] works with found images to create scenes of mysterious temporality. Often painted in faded hues, her artwork is suggestive of a period that could sit somewhere between the 1960’s and 70’s.’  She works with oil paint and charcoal and incredible collaging techniques where she creates anonymous portraits of sexualised and domesticated femininity.   Over three decades she has drawn on vintage imagery, cinema, music, and the female experience as inspiration.   Heidi has been a finalist in significant prizes including The Archibald Prize, Wynne Prize, Sulman Prize and The Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, has held two artist residencies in New York, and has been listed as one of Australia’s 50 most collectable artists.  It was a great broad ranging conversation. We covered her obsession with art at high school and her struggle to get into the painting course she desperately wanted (spoiler: she persisted and got in!), her love of figurative art and having to resist pressures from outside to think and act more conceptually – and her persistence paid dividends again. I loved her description of how she felt when overseas standing in front of paintings she had only seen in books to that point. We talked about her visual language, how she finds titles for her works and ... Nick Cave. Which I’m always up for a chat about.   Mood, mystery and the unresolved image.    Head to the link in my bio to have a listen. Heidi is represented by Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane (@janmurphygallery) and Nicholas Thompson Gallery, Melbourne (@nicholasthompsongallery)     Images 1.   HY by Lisa Barmby 2.   The masked bride, 2024 oil on canvas 140 x 100 3.   The black veil, 2019 charcoal on primed paper 84 x 110 4.   The door, 2021 oil on canvas 144 x 116 5.   Psychique 2021 oil on canvas 140 x 110

    38 min

  6. Apr 28

    Suzanne Archer

    Australian Women Artists  The podcast   Ep 68  Suzanne Archer     Across six decades, Suzanne Archer has forged a singular career in Australian art, marked by independence from curatorial trends and sustained commitment to difficult subjects.   From youthful abstraction through immersion in the Australian bush to a fearless confrontation with death and time.   Suzanne has won major prizes including the Wynne Prize for landscape and the Dobell Prize for Drawing, and her work is held in significant public collections nationwide.   Her constant evolution is fascinating.  We discussed many aspects of her career. The origins of her artistic journey, her immigration to Australia in the 1960s and the incredible effect living on the NSW South Coast had on her, how she made a living in those early days from art, residencies in New York and Paris and Zimbabwe and how those experiences taught her to never shut down what is possible, how moving to the country and that sense of space had a profound effect on her and her art.   We had this conversation at Nanda Hobbs Gallery in Sydney when her recent exhibition, Manifestation, was showing.   Suzanne is represented by Nanda Hobbs, Sydney     Images 1.   SA in front of a detail of Gorge Country – Wedderburn, 2024 oil on canvas 198 x 408 2.   Brown velvet, 2025 oil on canvas, 153 x 153 3.   Arty-Fact 2013, cloth bag, collaged embroidery, cardboard, acrylic paint, canvas mat 4.   Derangement, 2010, ink, charcoal, pastel on 2 sheets of white paper (winner Dobel Prize) 5.   Waratahs Wedderburn, 1994, oil on canvas, 240 x 242

    43 min

  7. Apr 21

    Tracey Deep

    Australian Women Artists  The podcast   Ep 67 Tracey Deep  For over twenty years, Tracey Deep has been transforming forgotten remnants of the natural world—from dried botanicals to recycled organic and industrial materials—into captivating, tactile sculptures.   Her art celebrates the regenerative power of the earth through the art of what’s been called intentional imperfection.   Today her work spans gallery exhibitions, immersive installations and major public artworks across Australia. Whether delicate and intimate or monumental in scale, her sculptures invite us to slow down and reconnect with the natural world.   But I think the best description of Tracey is... a creative adventurer, a biology enthusiast, and magical botanical sculptor.  “My passion for working with nature, my love for art has been the inspiration behind where I am today. Mother nature is my teacher, creating floralsculpture installations over decades has been the most inspiring tool in training my eye to assemble unique forms, patterns, shapes & tones together to create “living art”.” Tracey Deep  We had a wonderful conversation as, amongst many things, we discussed her creative journey, her fabulous (and random) gathering process, and her devotion to protecting our land and environment. Tracey is represented by Saint Cloche Galleries (@saint_cloche)   Head to the link in my bio to hear our conversation or go to wherever you find your podcasts.   Images of Tracey and her work were supplied by the artist

    38 min

  8. Apr 14

    Dagmar Cyrulla

    Australian Women Artists  The podcast  Ep 66 Dagmar Cyrulla   Dagmar Cyrulla is an Australian contemporary artist whose work grew out of a lifelong interest in people, relationships, and the emotional texture of ordinary life. Born in Germany and raised in Sydney from age one, she developed an art practice that blends portraiture, domestic scenes, and psychological observation into stories about human connection.  She is a distinguished figure in the Australian art scene, frequently appearing as a finalist for prestigious awards such as the Archibald, Doug Moran Portrait Prize, Dobell Drawing Prize, Portia Geach, Fishers Ghost and many more.  She has been described, wonderfully I think, as a seasoned storyteller of the contemporary human condition.   “My work is about feelings, based on how we relate to one another. My aim is to engage the viewer in the same thought process as mine, so as to open an opportunity to self questioning. My paintings are stories which hopefully reflect my love of people. The life experiences I use to develop my work include; Father and daughter relationships, power relationships, relationships to parents, being and having a role model, sibling rivalry etc.  I have clarity with each artwork in regard to the ideas I am exploring, however  it is more important for me to be engaged emotionally with each work.  I play with colour and light to help create the mood that I want the viewer to experience.” Dagmar Cyrulla   Head to the link in my bio for our conversation and or from wherever you get your podcasts.   Dagmar (@dagmarcyrulla) is represented by Lennox St Gallery (@lennoxstgallery) and Wagner Contemporary (@wagnercontemporary)   Etre is showing at Lennox St till 25 April       Images 1.   DC 2.   The keeper of secrets, 2009, pastel on paper 205 x 142 3.   Etre III, 2025, oil on linen 50 x 40 4.   Le marriage, 2024, oil on linen, 82 x 61 5.   Woman bathing after Rembrandt, 2025 oil on linen, 41 x 36 6.   After Hopper study II, 2025 oil on paper on board 45 x 25 7.   Wendy Paris and Minerva, oil on canvas 8.   If you can’t stand the heat, 2010, oil on canvas

    33 min
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About

Australian women artists have been (and continue to be) underrepresented and undervalued in this country despite the stunning artistic works that have been produced since the mid nineteenth century.  This podcast will shine a light on those artists and their spectacular art works. I'll be talking to the artists themselves, both established and emerging, as well as experts on Australian women artists in history. 

Information

  • Creator
    Richard Graham
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    74
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Australian Women Artists
  • Show Website
    Australian Women Artists

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