History and context are the underlying themes of this thought-provoking issue of Artist Profile. There is an urgency by makers and presenters to provide more nuanced understandings of so many local and global issues. The alternate views offered impress on us the need to appreciate more deeply the contexts that underpin conflicts if we are to achieve a more peaceful future. And in doing so they reveal the relevance of the arts in making sense of a complex world.

Some of the articles in this issue cannot overlook what the conflicts in Israel / Palestine and in Ukraine / Russia, have done to reshape art and relationships. Over this southern summer many artists and arts workers have expressed to me their despair for long friendships broken, about feeling torn, and even silenced by the Israel / Palestine conflict in particular.

Probably the most public and surprising break-up ignited by the Israel / Palestine conflict came last December when gallerist Anna Schwartz ended her more than thirty-year professional relationship with artist Mike Parr. “What was different this time?” is the question examined by author Macushla Robinson in her finely contextualised essay Mike Parr Blind Obedience.

Judith Blackall’s interview with Parr, undertaken prior to his break-up with Schwartz, provides further context. Started during Parr’s Sunset Claws: An exhibition in three parts at Schwartz’s gallery, the Blackall / Parr conversation begins with The Intimate Resistance survey presenting more than fifty years of Parr’s performances in Bogotá and in Naples, which included a new performance at each venue.

Stephanie Berlangieri interviews Hoda Afshar after a remarkable year of mid-career exhibitions. Their discussion on concealment and what it continues to reveal about colonial histories is insightful.

Gamilaroi filmmaker Ivan Sen is “after the truth” writes filmmaker Christine Olsen, whose article in this issue analyses Sen’s past films and the themes he brings to his newest film Limbo.

Christopher Hodges’ tribute to Emily Kam Kngwarray is a deeply moving read. Anna Johnson’s essay on Roslyn Oxley is very “groovy.”

After reading Terence Maloon’s essay on Ann Thomson, few would fail to agree that she is both an inspiration and an important abstract painter whose creative context has been misunderstood over many decades. Maloon meticulously refutes shallow interpretations of abstract painting through his careful observations of Thomson’s “painterly modes.”  This year is the year of purpose and resolution for Thomson, with solo exhibitions locally and in the UK with a rare touring survey beginning at the S.H Ervin Gallery and ending at Orange Regional Gallery.

In Brad Buckley’s exceptional review of the National Gallery of Australia’s acquisition of Jordan Wolfson’s Body Sculpture we learn why this work’s commission is a courageous decision by the gallery’s director Nick Mitzevich.

In the previous issue artist Leonard Brown reviewed Mona’s epic Heavenly Beings exhibition. In this issue Lucy Hawthorne returns to Mona to review Jónsi’s Hrafntinna (Obsidian) and Jean-Luc Moulène and Teams with unexpected observations.

During the production of this issue, we farewelled Susanne (Sue) Hewitt, an unstoppable patron of the arts. Sue’s many pioneering achievements included her appointment in the 1970s as the first female auctioneer for Christie’s worldwide, and the development of the Maitland Regional Art Gallery collection. Sue will be deeply missed. Her memory eternal.

Finally thank you to all for choosing to support Artist Profile. Your patronage, article suggestions, and love of the arts keeps us going.

Kon Gouriotis
Editor

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