The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.
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Susan Norrie (b. 1953) is a contemporary artist who explores social, political and environmental issues through painting, sculpture, installation, photography and video. Norrie trained at the National Art School and the Victorian College of the Arts before being included in a group exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1980. The gallery bought one of her paintings in 1983, and the following year seven of her works were included in Australian Visions:1984 Exxon International Exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Through the 1980s she continued to exhibit while holding residencies at the University of Melbourne and the University of Western Sydney. Known initially for her painting, in the late 1990s Norrie began experimenting with the moving image, including her iconic six-channel video installation, Undertow (2002), commissioned by the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art. Her work Transit (2011) was co-purchased by Tate Modern in London and Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art. Since her first overseas artist-in-residency in New York in 1990, she has held solo exhibitions in the US, Finland, Italy, France, Japan and New Zealand, in addition to showing in many group and solo shows around Australia. Norrie was selected to represent Australia at the 52nd Venice Biennale in 2007, and more recently was recipient of the Australia Council Visual Arts Award in 2019.
Gift of the artist 2021
© Anne Zahalka/Copyright Agency, 2024
Anne Zahalka (3 portraits)
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
Naomi Cass, Director of the Centre of Contemporary Photography, in conversation with Anne Zahalka.
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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.
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