School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Research Publications

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    ‘Technique and Memory’ in Lyndell Brown and Charles Green, exhibition catalogue, ARC One Gallery, Melbourne
    White, Dr Anthony ( 2003)
    The recent work of Lyndell Brown and Charles Green is located at the intersection between painting, photography and digital reproduction . Their trompe l'oeil paintings and digitally printed photographs respond critically to the pressures put on human memory by successive revolutions in image technology.
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    'The Artist and Mental Illness' from The Cunningham Dax Collection and The Artists of Neami Splash Art Studio Exhibition Catalogue, Bundoora Homestead Art Centre, Bundoora
    White, Dr Anthony ( 2005)
    Images produced by people experiencing mental illness can be difficult to look at. Whenever I see the distorted , open-mouthed figure in Edvard Munch's The Scream of 1893, for example, I feel an uncanny sense of altered reality, that the world could suddenly turn inside out and reveal some awful truth underlying everyday perception. With this work the Norwegian-born Munch, a professionally trained artist who at various times in his life suffered from depression and psychosis , created an image which has become a modern icon of mental anguish. At the same time, throughout his career Munch produced a broad range of works, including an extraordinary series of ful length portraits in which the artist's experience of mental illness plays no obvious part. Although these latter works are rarely noted in the literature on Munch, they highlight an important point about the relationship between art and mental health: not everything produced by artists who have experienced mental illness can be related to their medical condition. Furthermore, not even every aspect of a work such as The Scream can be attributed to the creator's inner psychological state. Indeed, when art works such as Munch's become the subject of art historical enquiry they are approached from a broad range of perspectives, including the technical , social, historical, as well as the psychological and medical. In viewing images produced by people experiencing difficulties with mental health, such as those held in The Cunningham Dax Collection or those produced at Neami Splash Art Studio, I argue that we should adopt a similarly broad approach, while not losing sight of the pain and suffering that often accompanies the onset of mental illness.
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    Curiosity: 150 years of collecting at the University of Melbourne (exhibition catalogue essay by Belinda Nemec)
    NEMEC, BELINDA JANE ( 2003)
    The collections owned by Australian universities form a significant part of our nation’s moveable cultural and scientific heritage. The University of Melbourne, an institution with a 150 year history, is typical of our nation’s older and larger educational institutions in this respect, being a custodian of varied collections that serve a range of purposes to students and staff and to the wider community.
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    [Review of the books Cyprus: a modern history and Cyprus: the search for a solution]
    Varnava, Andrekos ( 2005)
    Over the years I. B. Tauris has proved the foremost publisher on Cyprus’s history, but the value of its two most recent offerings is mixed.