‘Brutally violent othering’: How this artist’s human-animal hybrids are bringing us closer to nature

Sitting on a bench are two naked figures. One is asleep, curled up, her body language suggesting an anxiety temporarily on hold. Right now, she’s safe, head resting on the lap of her companion who keeps watch, wearily and fretfully. They look completely real and yet impossible. Both are human, almost, but for the faces that stretch into snouts, the elongated feet, and spines that continue as tails.

This is While She Sleeps by acclaimed Australian artist Patricia Piccinini, the work sitting in the heart of her Collingwood studio. They’re chimeras – part human, part thylacine, “which we hunted to extinction because we thought they were killing sheep”, she says.

Artist Patricia Piccinini in her Melbourne studio.Credit: Paul Jeffers

Piccinini’s creations have been exhibited across the world. As an artist, she takes multimedia to new heights, quite literally, with her art ranging from hyperrealistic sculptures to paintings to her Skywhales – a family of hot air balloon creatures. In 2003, she represented Australia at the 50th Venice Biennale. Now she has stepped into a new role at RMIT School of Art, where she has just been appointed professor of practice.

There, Piccinini will collaborate with staff and students in a role spanning teaching and research. Her role is part of the Planetary Civics Inquiry, an initiative that aims to shift societal ideas about existential issues, including the climate emergency, bringing together thinkers across disciplines.

In her work, Piccinini bridges gaps – between man-made objects and the natural world, between the real and imagined, between science and art. Figures embrace and hold one another. Mothers and children, friends and lovers. Warmth and tenderness passes between different species and barriers break down.

The works provide “a safe space to think about how you feel about difference”, she says. “A lot of people think, ‘Oh, why do you put these things out in the world that are not natural? Why are you trying to shock us?’ I’m not trying to shock anyone – I think they’re all really beautiful. I only put things out into the world that are beautiful, and for me, this is admirable. This [the figures depicted in her works] is who I want to be. I want this connection in my life.”

‘We do this othering all the time. We do it to other people.’

Patrica Piccinini

A core idea that Piccinini interrogates is the mental remove society has between the man-made world and nature. This gap, she argues, makes it easier for us as a society to believe that harm to the natural world doesn’t impact us. “It’s a way for us to feel fine about what we decide and feel immune – but it’s not the case.”

On While She Sleeps, “the reason we hunted these thylacines to extinction is because we othered them, and we said they’re not worthy of our consideration – they don’t have souls, they don’t go to heaven, they’re just animals, so let’s just get rid of them. And that’s how we can do it. It’s brutally violent othering. And we do this othering all the time. We do it to other people.”

Piccinini’s appointment at RMIT comes at a tumultuous moment in Australian arts, following the shock dumping of Khaled Sabsabi as Australia’s representative for the 2026 Venice Biennale. Piccinini, along with 22 other artists who have represented Australia at Venice, signed an open letter calling for Sabsabi to be reinstated.

“They should just give him the show, and they should support him to make the work that they were commissioned to do,” Piccinini says. “I did Venice in 2003. Archie Moore won it last year. That’s amazing, incredible. It would be devastating to be given the opportunity, and have it taken away. It doesn’t seem like a good reason. Just seems like – I don’t know what could be a good reason.”

Crowds gather to view the Skywhales by artist Patricia Piccinini at Corben Oval in Fairfield in March, 2022.Credit: Wayne Taylor

The decision sends an ominous message. “It means that artists aren’t supported to make work that could be asking difficult questions. That’s a real problem because art is a place for that – to discuss those difficult ideas.”

Piccinini is hopeful about her new role as a way of making a positive impact, both on a one-to-one level in her interactions with students and on a larger societal scale. “I’m excited to share my experiences and what I’ve learnt. I’m excited to learn as well from young people too,” she says.

“I guess even just by being an artist of my age and still making work and being active is something because I think we are such a small country that we don’t have the resources to support a lot of artists, and so what happens is a lot of artists don’t have the resources they need to keep on making art, and so they stop. Great artists stop making art, and they do other things.

“I think that’s the main thing about longevity in the art world – it’s about trying to build a community where you’re finding ways to support each other.”

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