fleur childs

Boxing Day An exhibition of paintings by artist and tsunami...

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 15:05:42 -0400

Boxing Day

An exhibition of paintings by artist and tsunami survivor Fleur Childs

Boxing Day is an exhibition of large-scale canvases by emerging Australian artist Fleur Childs. It is the result of an investigation into her relationship with water - a relationship that became profoundly complicated on Boxing Day, 2004.

Childs was staying at Arugam Bay, a remote beach community on the east coast of Sri Lanka, when the Indian Ocean tsunami struck. She and her husband were fortunate to survive the wave and the ordeal that followed. With the works that make up Boxing Day, Childs attempts to reinterpret and reshape the traumatic experience. In her self-portraits, the event is both depicted and re-imagined.

The works are a generous act of sharing and the end result of an obviously cathartic art- making process. Boxing Day communicates a personal experience of riding the wave that killed over 200,000 people.

(All paintings are untitled, oil on canvas, copyright Fleur Childs 2006)

Venue: blank_space gallery

Address: 374 Crown St, Surry Hills NSW 2010

Date: 26 October- 1 November 2006

Links: coolhunting.com lostineminor.com

Tsunami story written by Fleur’s husband Alex Bodman

Opening Night Photos

The Girls 2008 – Solo Painting Exhibitio at Java Art Gallery,...

Sun, 15 May 2011 15:03:00 -0400

The Girls

2008 – Solo Painting Exhibitio at Java Art Gallery, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

A series of portraits of Khmer hostesses I developed a relationship with at a local hostess bar.

“I started hanging out with “the girls” at one of the hostess bars we would pop into during a big night out. They always made me feel welcome and loved to dance with me. I watched them greet male customers, flirt and entertain them; always hoping for the drink. “Buy me a drink mister?” I talked to other girls who’d been to hostess bars and they said they found it difficult because they pitied the hostesses. I’m not naïve about the downsides of their job. But looking into their strong, animated and beautiful faces I couldn’t dare pity them. Instead I asked if I could paint their portraits and was thrilled when they said yes. Their beauty is their commodity - not the only one but the most important and ephemeral requirement of the job. At the end of the sitting I offered them a small amount of money to go out and buy themselves dinner. They refused, calling me “sister”. They wouldn’t even let me buy them a drink.”

Press

Art Monthly Australia

The Phnom Penh Post

Asia Life

CV 2008/2009 – Solo Painting Exhibition: “The Girls” at Java...

Wed, 13 Sep 2000 16:39:00 -0400

CV

2008/2009 – Solo Painting Exhibition: “The Girls” at Java Art Gallery, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

2007 – Group Exhibition: “Mean Rup Mean Tuk” (With a Body Comes Suffering), Department of Plastic Arts Ministry of Culture Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

2006 – Solo Painting Exhibition: “Boxing Day” at Blank Space Gallery, Sydney. A series of self-portraits inspired by surviving the 2005 Tsunami in Sri Lanka.

2004 – Solo Painting exhibition at The Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle, West Australia. A series of painting inspired by textile prints on vintage clothes.

2003 – Short Film: Director, co-producer of “A Sari Tale”, sponsored by MetroScreen, Sydney.

2002 - Auburn International Youth Film Festival, “Elite Soldiers Kill Their Wives”, Sydney,

2002 - Short videos screened at Sydney’s Chauvel Cinema, Sydney.

2001 – Principal Artist for the “Uglieland Festival” in West Australia.

2000 - Freelance Illustrator. Storyboarding the ABC/BBC Millennium broadcast. West Australia.

Education

2002 - Bachelor of Fine Arts. The College of Fine Arts (University of New South Wales) Sydney, Australia

2005 - Certificate 4, Solo Documentary – Metro Screen. Sydney Australia.

You can contact Fleur at fleur.childs@gmail.com

(The above photographic portrait of Fleur was taken by Cybele Malinoski)

Mean Rup Mean Tuk 2007 – Group Exhibition: (With a Body Comes...

Thu, 15 Jun 2000 14:19:00 -0400

Survivor

Taxi Girl

School Girl

Fleur Childs

Mean Rup Mean Tuk

2007 – Group Exhibition: (With a Body Comes Suffering), Department of Plastic Arts Ministry of Culture Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia