A&D ANNUAL 2022

Winner of the Ross Steele AM Fine Arts Prize

Fiona Macpherson

Fiona Macpherson’s painting practice explores the dichotomies of silence and visibility, the surface and the underside, and denial and acceptance while engaging with an autobiographical narrative of trauma. Her recent project ‘Surface Tensions’ investigates the social psychology of cognitive dissonance surrounding the presence of unspoken abuse in seemingly typical family settings. Through recreating childhood photographs, Fiona aims to shift the perspective by unsettling the image, inserting the consciousness of the traumatic subtext that the camera lens did not have access to. In doing so, the confessional work seeks to restore her agency and control over the truth of her story.