Ep 7: Pat Brassington on childhood, the familiar and the fantastical

We are in conversation with Pat Brassington, one of Australia’s most significant and influential artists. Over four decades, Brassington has captivated audiences with her ability to transform the familiar into the fantastical through her enigmatic photomontages. 

This conversation is recorded as a radio play where a voice artist performs Brassington’s responses to my questions.

 

In this episode we cover:

• how Brassington’s childhood in Hobart has influenced her practice. At a young age, Brassington contracted polio. She was confined to her bedroom for six weeks and experienced a heightened feeling of isolation. This experience, in combination with catching tadpoles with her brother and playing in suburban backyards, sparked her artistic imagination.

• how Tasmania and the concept of isolation influenced her artistic imagination,

• Brassington’s exploration of contradictions, inspired by dialectics, surrealism and psychoanalysis,

• her use of distortion, symbolism, and the provocative use of pink, and

• insights into her lens-based practice, blending straight photography with manipulated images to evoke unsettling yet captivating emotions.