Karen Casey

Karen Casey was born and spent her formative years growing up in Hobart and country Tasmania before relocating to Melbourne in the 1980's. She was later one of a vanguard group of urban Aboriginal artists exhibiting widely in Australia and overseas, with numerous national and international curatorial shows and major touring exhibitions. Her early figurative paintings and prints, of which this is a good example, were often raw and confrontational commentaries on environmental and social justice issues. Here two traditional female spirit figures are caught in a vortex - out of their environment they are being swallowed up by life separated from culture. Casey's later works signalled a decisive shift as she adopted a less politicised ideology and more contemplative appreciation of her indigenous heritage and philosophical beliefs, giving rise to images that were deeply rooted in environmental connection.