The work

My practice involves an intervention into the iconography of the kitsch souvenir to question cultural identity. Issues of colonialism, multiculturalism and the indigenous are all tackled in a process of filtering, selecting, contrasting and reassembling images found on old biscuit tins, tin trays and confectionary tins. In my recent work I have begun printing images onto metal using a sublimation technique and have therefore expanded the repertoire of imagery available to me.

For the Australia project I have constructed fantastical hybrid creatures that can be imagined to inhabit an alternative colonial dimension. These creatures will be disfigured and mutated monsters that appear to have been borne of an absinthe fuelled liaison between May Gibbs and Hunter S. Thompson.

Anna Davern

Anna Davern completed her undergraduate degree in Jewellery and Object Design at Sydney College of the Arts and her post-graduate studies and subsequent Masters Degree at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT). Anna teaches, writes, curates, blogs and primarily makes jewellery from her studio in Flinders Lane, Melbourne. She exhibits regularly in Australia and overseas, has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards and has participated in residencies in Australia and Europe. She is represented in Melbourne by e.g.etal, Studio Ingot and Craft Victoria.

www.annadavern.com.au