Australian stand up comedian Hannah Gadsby is a closet art scholar. Armed with a rapier wit and desire to pick beneath the paint, she travels across the continent on a mission to debunk the myths of the Australian Identity as defined by our art canon.—Closer Productions
Australian stand up comedian Hannah Gadsby is a closet art scholar. Armed with a rapier wit and desire to pick beneath the paint, she travels across the continent on a mission to debunk the myths of the Australian Identity as defined by our art canon. If our great works are to be believed, the average Aussie is a bloke in hat who is hell bent on conquering our gum-tree infested landscape singlehandedly. Why has this mono-vision of Australia persisted for so long? Surely there is more to us than our most famous artworks suggest? From first settlement to Federation to post-multiculturalism, Hannah will forge an irreverent new image of who we think we are through a re-examination of Australian art history. By digging a bit deeper and uncovering often-ignored histories and artists, Hannah will take on these painted white/male clichés to show us a more colourful and feminine vision of Australia. Knocking on the studio doors of some of this country's most interesting contemporary artists, Hannah will engage with a new generation who are determined to break open the ideas of what it means to be Australian. Many of these artists' work speaks directly to our historical canon, challenging its point of view and re-interpreting it to ignite the issues still haunting our political and cultural landscapes.—Closer Productions