News
April 2022
I've been looking at your latest work. I love it! The bra strap, the sewing pattern, the music sheet are SO good together... So evocative of 'feminine trappings' like it critiques all that bullshit BUT it also reclaims them all at the same time. Very clever, Rhys
June 2018
I decided to respond to a call out by the Women's Art Register WHAT'S YOUR FEMINISM?
"We are publishing a zine for the Women’s Arts Register MEL&NYC event 'The Great Divide', and this is our call out for you to be part of it. This collaborative project seeks to connect feminist artists across relationships, distance and generational continuities to explore shades of difference and fissures of separation"
CALL FOR MATERIAL
We are seeking written word and illustrative pieces on what feminism and feminist art practice means to you, for a collaborative poster-style zine to be placed in an urban setting.
December 2017
I am thankful to be one of two facilitators of the Art Therapy group “The Art of Choice” it has been a rewarding experience as I reconnected with the basics of mark making whilst supporting women in their recovery from abuse; I’m so appreciative for the opportunity to work with an Art Therapist and the generosity that she brought into our sessions goes a long way. We made an awesome team this year and I look forward to working together in 2018.
November 2017
2017 a year of change, a time of self-doubt and the eternal question of “what's next” It all came to a point when spending lots of time on the computer turned to be exhausting even depressing. The antidote to this was to go back to basics and review my creative process. I decided to take up the brushes, mix colours, glue papers, create a mess and not worry about whether the work would make it or not into an exhibition, this has been both freeing and meditative. Mark making is fun again, I do not want to dismiss what I’ve learned whilst using image manipulation software but I don't want it to become the dominant aspect of my creative process. So far, I've been on a journey of construction and deconstruction; I’ve used eye droppers, I invited my hands to be an active part in the art making. I’ve made mistakes, many, took lessons on how to use acrylic and almost walked out within the first half an hour, I met other artists, had many cups of coffee and more. Whatever I’ve done, it’s been liberating and I’m now looking forward to the year ahead.
April 2016
I look at the world in the only way I can; as a woman born overseas, living in Australia. For as long as I can remember I’ve been making, discussing, reading, looking and immersing myself in art. Most of my paid work life as a counsellor in Australia has centred on issues of trauma and gendered violence; my practice has been informed by a feminist analysis. Years ago, I made a decision to set boundaries between my paid working life and my artwork. I believed that by keeping both aspects of my life separate, I would ensure my emotional wellbeing. I felt that I didn’t want my art to be tainted by the sadness and despair of the stories that I hear in the consulting rooms. Yet, slowly but steadily, stories have been filtering through and I have accepted that wherever these come from, they will emerge at the most unexpected moments; I know now that the personal and professional become a bind that cannot be easily disentangled.
Whilst choosing images, I noticed that I have been processing ideas, experiences and observations that are as much about social violence and unrest as well as the stories of violence told by women assaulted in the intimacy of their homes by the men they chose to love.
To me, creating art is a way of inviting an audience to look and consider what cannot be appropriately described, referred to or questioned by way of language. Art is a universal expression that transcends language, directing people’s attention to a particular issue. In my work there are themes of oppression, deception and confinement. Most women I meet have been deeply traumatised and for them the recollection of events isn’t linear but instead fuzzy and random.
My images have an elusive quality as if moving in and out of darkness. Many convey a sense of isolation that alludes to social dislocation, which parallels a process experienced by the women who have survived abuse.
The process of creating starts with digital images, photos, screen shots or stills of my own videos that I then distort by uploading them onto an image editing software.
Red is a colour I use repetitively as a way of signifying pain. I engage in a process of painting over my prints as a way of fixing or given a new lease of life to what has been damaged.
January 2016
Selfie
The first time I took a selfie was to capture a visit to a friend’s place; a friend I don’t see often. I then progressed to owning a selfie stick. I kept noticing people of all ages taking photos of themselves in the most incredible places. I jumped on board with this trend not knowing exactly why. In my mind an aspect of it is about self-definition and how one wishes to be seen by others; It is about presenting an image that others will find appealing.
Through the use of self-portraits, people have created images to represent how they perceive themselves. However, the difference between that mode of self-representation and the selfie is that a selfie is immediate; it can be viewed globally and stays forever, whereas a self-portrait on canvass to name one modality wouldn’t have such a global reach. Unlike painting, mobile technology has made self-portraiture accessible to the masses; anyone with a smart phone can photograph, create a video and more.
Sometimes, people can act before using judgment and don’t always consider the long-term consequences. With this in mind, I wonder whether there are gender based differences in the way in which selfies are taken.
November 2015
After my trips to Patagonia, Atacama Desert and later this year to Pompeii, I continue to think of the landscape as a container of memories. These might be benevolent and cantake the shape of ancient rock paintings, artefacts of people long gone and more. Yet some places reveal terror beyond comprehension, graves that tell us of mass murders that some wish us to believe never took place. The land always tells a story, we only have to be willing to listen and notice.
September 2015
f generation: feminism, art, progressions is a contemporary art project that draws upon this significant foundational heritage and examines feminist art today, through a polylogue of contemporary voices from Australia and around the world. We invite you to participate with your response to the following question: How is feminism important to you? f generation: Co-ordinating Curators/ Aldous et. al.
June 2015
As described by Rebecca Kate the group exhibition Places "takes you on a fabulous colorful journey to worlds only to be seen through the retinas and mediums of our amazing cohort of discovered artists. Come travel into hidden rooms, secret lagoons, primal landscapes and spirited urban sprawls. See the beauty of the world(s)"
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1610029745941316/?__mref=message_bubble
May 2015
As an immigrant woman I can’t relate to the most celebrated and spoken about sports Australians seem to be so obsessed with. I’ve watched netball, cricket, footy, tennis, the races and more. Each year by September, I know how the Footy season is going. In November, at work, there are always several sweepstakes going around. In the ski fields there aren’t white lines but orange nets, poles and banners that tell where to or not to be on the mountain. The black line in the swimming pool helps swimmers stay in a straight line and to me this black line has hypnotic qualities. In tennis the lines show the boundaries for every shot. The shared user paths indicate to runners, cyclists and pedestrians where everyone should be at any given time; it’s all very territorial. Clearly, lines are a point of reference, the decider on whether you’re in or out, whether a team or a person are winners or losers. Sports can be very political as well by putting forward questions about diversity and inclusiveness. What would happen if lines ceased to exist? What would take place if lines were to be more expressive, colourful and unequal in thickness? My art practice is about memory, recollection and representation having all of these in mind brings up the question of whether these two vastly different topics – memory and sport - intersect and if so how? This Award gives me the opportunity to explore this topic further.
March 2015
Every day, around the world, horrendous crimes against humanity are committed; all of which are beyond my comprehension. I notice that there are those who wish for these crimes to be forgotten and those who wish to keep the memories alive as a way of never forgetting the victims and their stories. At least there are two powerful forces at work, pulling in every direction, all highly polarising to say the least. To me, the preservation of the collective memory is important; when travelling in the region of Atacama in Chile, I knew I was crisscrossing a landscape that to this day, hides the horrors of mass graves, torture and much more; once a sacred place and now desecrated land. I knew then as I know now, that monsters walk in bright day light, not hiding in obscure corners.
November 2014
I continue to try to find a way to depict the fading of memories and experience. Mine is a futile attempt at holding onto the moment of bliss; that moment when we smile at the lens of posterity or pass by places on our road to nowhere. I apply colour when I try to hold onto what is gone. A while ago, I witnessed my mother sink into the unknown that is Alzheimer’s. I noticed how she lost her grip on reality, how she forgot our names, how she did not recognise her surroundings. She started wearing strident colours that she wouldn’t have worn before, as though through colour she was trying to remind herself that she was still present. Every moment, every experience inevitably dissolves and loses sharpness; sound, colour and shape. All I’m left with is moments lived.
August 2014
For some time I’ve been trying to find a way of how to depict the fading of memory. I observed my own mother sink into the unknown that is Alzheimer’s. I noticed how she lost her grip on reality, how she forgot our names, her surroundings and how she started wearing strident colours that she wouldn’t have worn before; as if trying to remind herself that she was still here. One day, not that long ago, she even forgot how to speak. Everything lost sharpness and eventually disappeared - “until death do us part” .
March 2014
Dear Paulina,
I've written this recommendation of your work to share with other LinkedIn users.
"Paulina has the ability to say yes when and where others cannot see how it is possible. I am impressed with her artistic talents, professional manner, and knowledge of how to engage with others on a global stage. As a gallery director I found this talented artist refreshingly capable and accommodating."
Kirsten Borror
November 2013
For months I’ve been working and reflecting on land and landscape which unlike with other works, includes a physical experience that involves all of my senses. Previous work was an attempt at representing the juxtaposition of ordinary and traumatic memories. The work consisted of experimental videos and stills; most of those images contain muted shades of grey that hover between blocks of black and white; yet images then and now are equally blurred as a way of symbolising the fragility of each moment, everything contained in that moment loses its clarity leaving the experience open for reinterpretation; was it this or that way? Doubt sets in. Was it my memory or someone else’s? I accept that the answer sits with me as much as with the observer, who interprets, discusses and makes sense of it from his or her experience. My work entails downloading stills, printing them and painting dots of colour on them as a way of drawing attention to areas that otherwise might go unnoticed. I hope that the assemblage of images and colour exuded a sense of nostalgia and ambiguity that is in part attributable to my experience of being the other in a country that is different to where I was born.
September 2013
After a month of silence and a certain level of despair about “what’s next” now I know; whilst looking at Melbourne’s skyline I wondered about the juxtaposition of what’s human made and nature. I sat at a seminar listening to an acknowledgment of Traditional owners of the land we were sitting in. Who owns what? the very notion of ownership is a social construct. Do we ever own anything? Perhaps we only own moments,nothing more.
July 2013
"Dear Paulina, field is excited to inform you that your piece GrandScheme(colour)has been selected for inclusion in the upcoming 2013 Rob McNamara Exhibition, righting/writing the direction, to be held at Collingwood Gallery from 9th -21st August, 2013. The selection panel chose the final artworks for exhibition form over 150 entries received. The successful artworks were chosen for their relevance to the theme, and the strength of their creativity and execution."
In June
Another Artist when discussing my work stated: “Your images are very intriguing, reminding me a bit like fragments of dreams or frames from a movie film that has burns in the surface emulsion.”
June 2013
A Melbourne based Psychologist said: "Fantastic works of ART.Haunting."
June 2013
I’ve been walking, photographing and drawing landscapes as well as thinking of its political and cultural connotations. Landscape is a highly emotional and subjective topic. It alludes to historical, geographical and future conditions. Questions about sustainability and how humans have the ability to make things right or cause further damage, emerge. Late February this year on a hazy morning, I observed the cityscape and noticed the dry conditions, the smog and how everything appeared blurred and worried that our cities and its buildings could dissolve into nothingness. At home I printed samples of the photos and in an attempt to make things better, I engaged in a colourful mark making frenzy.
May 2013
http://www.cliftonsartprize.com/2013/melbourne/1158/Family-Portrait-
March 2013
The work submitted for the Cliftons Art Prize is a continuation of the exploration that concerns itself with Family Portraits and reflecting the passage of time. Across cultures people look in similar ways at the lens, hopefully without blinking, ensuring that they will remain fixed in time.Paulina notes "years after (a photo was taken) I’m glancing at the past almost unable to recognize myself standing by people long gone how does one make sense of it all? I am left adrift more so when questions can’t be answered anymore. How does this image matter now?A Melbourne based artist upon examining the work titled "Family Portrait” stated "Very thought provoking and eerie".
February 2013
I am beginning to explore the obsession with taking photos of self and its distribution in social media; some of them capture the subject at awkward moments portraying a certain life style. My means of production is via electronic media; digital print and then I deconstruct the images onto something that conveys the passage of time and the ambiguity that results from fading memories. The process in itself is intoxicating it lacks certainties and denies a simple reading which leaves the work open for interpretation.
January 2012
Incertidumbre (Uncertainty) is an examination of how to deconstruct a family snapshot. The idea of deconstruction emerged when thinking about memory and how, as time goes by, the certainties one had seemed to fade away. The painting process engages the notion of moving away from what is well defined into the unknown; this elicits a strong sense of uncertainty. The way in which acrylic and colours are used is by pushing the boundaries; a wash creates a mark but its final shape is unknown. Incertidumbre evokes fragility, something that cannot be held down. This assemblage of colour exudes a sense of nostalgia and ambiguity that is in part attributable to accruing memories which comes with growing older.These reflections will inform most of the work to be done in 2012
March 2012
Dos Amigos is a large format print, which is part of an ongoing exploration of the intrusive nature of ordinary and traumatic memories whilst traversing a city. The images are out focus to signify the elusive nature of what is being recalled. By contrast, the unambiguous presence of the hand painted dots appear as if the experience of being under surveillance or targeted is one that is difficult to dismiss. Statement prepared for the Cliftons Art Prize.
April 2012
A Melbourne based writer commented on Paulina Campos's work by stating " there is something haunting yet compelling about your work, like stopping to see a car accident even though you know it’s not going to be pretty, that’s the feeling I get in my gut."
June 2012
Paulina writes in the 2012 edition of Chile Magazine: My work is a reflection on Australia’s recent history and how it connects to Chilean’s history and events that are deeply imprinted in people’s psyche. The Occupy Melbourne events triggered memories of painful events that took place in her native Chile; which brought up questions about how abusive events can easily take place anywhere in the world. Acts of Police brutality are not exclusive to the so called “Third World” as some people living in comfortable Melbourne would like to believe.When opening an exhibition at the Footscray Community Arts Centre she said: I wish to thank Chile Magazine for extending this invitation to me and so many Melbourne based Latino artists. A special thank you to my friend Hilda for her editorial support and an even bigger thank you to my husband Roland who has given me his unconditional love and support throughout this process of inviting Art back into my life.
August 2012
Considering how to depict memories and memory making by showing objects that populated my childhood…the local OP shop has been a significant research facility. All of this must be because soon enough I'll be going back home....yet home is where unconditional loves resides so I'll be coming back to Melbourne