Artist: Hunters Hill Quilters - "Peaceful Pieces "
Cotton, 200 cm x 233 cm

"Peaceful Pieces combines the joys of a garden of mythical flowers and the
all-embracing comfort and warmth of a quilt to soothe away the edges of pain."

 

Artist: Mai Long- "Durga and the Aqua Mutts Help Dag Girl to See Again "
Acrylic on papier mache with avian mesh frame, 100 cm x 50 cm x 40 cm

"Durga & the Aqua Mutts help Dag Girl see again is inspired by the idea of the
spiritual and its relationship with physical pain and suffering.  Just as my
mongrel characters the Aqua Mutts assist my own personal navigation through life,
so they in turn look upon the concept of Durga as a possibility for further
assisting their own support of their mate Dag Girl in times of crisis. 

This work is about the idea of harnessing our own inner strengths, insights and
wisdoms, to get us through the most challenging of times.  In Hinduism, Durga is
one who can redeem in situations of utmost stress:  “Durga manifests fearlessness
and patience, and never loses her sense of humour, even during spiritual battles
of epic proportion”.  The “seeing” of Dag Girl refers to a spiritual awakening
inspired by physical pain."

 

Artist: Patricia Casey - "Whisper"
Lambda print facemounted on Perspex, 40 cm x 60 cm

"There are all sorts of pain – emotional and physical.  I don’t think you can go
through life without experiencing either of these.  Sometimes we grow through
pain and often our proudest achievements have been the result of a struggle.
But, pain that never goes away is a frightening concept.  I can’t imagine what
that must be like: to have no relief; no respite; to have to learn to live your
life in spite of it.

Meditation and visualization are techniques that many use to help manage
their symptoms.  Whisper is a moment of stillness; of calm.  This work leads the
viewer to a space that is removed from reality where one can experience an escape."

 

Artist: Sam Leach - "Osedax Mucofloris "
Oil on wood panel, 35 cm x 25 cm

"One of the things that interests me about pain is the extent to which we can
understand the sensation of pain in other beings. With other humans we can
have some empathy because we understand the pain by analogy. With other
animals it becomes more difficult. For vertebrates we can see behaviours which
might give us some insight, or at least seem to indicate that pain is experienced
in a way we understand. For more exotic species it is much more difficult to understand.

In this painting, Osedax Mucofloris, the organism is a marine worm which has no
mouth or stomach and uses bacteria to digest nutrients from the whale bones in
which they take root. The distance we perceive between our experience and these
animals is a reminder of the impossibility of truly understanding the pain of another
living thing.

Yet at the same time these organisms are also related to humans so at some
point there is a shared experience. This is why I have included the Greek letters
Gamma and Sigma standing for “Gnothi Seauton” or “Know Thyself”. Humans
are part of all life and pain is a part of that."

 

Artist: Tobias Clack - "Realisation of Self "
Paper, ink, wood glue, 6.3 m x 2 m x 1.4 m

"When someone’s life is crushed through physical or emotional hardship, a
transformation takes place, a kind of evolution or rebirth. This sculpture The
Realisation of Self is a physical representation of this powerful (spiritual)
experience. The two figures I have made represent this experience. The bottom
figure, that is the shell, is the representation of that part of a person’s life
which is broken. I painted it with black ink to create a surface that gave him the
look of stone. The top figure represents the fresh start in someone’s life. I tried
to create that moment of a fresh start by making his appearance smooth, clean
and well proportioned. I wanted him to glow like a stained glass window to give
him a sense of life, energy, when lit, in contrast to the stone man, but still
share some similar characteristics to show they are the same person."

 

Artist: Tom Carment - "Bashed Critic II (James Waites)"
Oil on linen, 45 cm x 61 cm

I was thinking of painting a portrait of someone who’d suffered a lot of pain. My
friend James Waites fell off a cliff almost thirty years ago, nearly died and broke
many bones. He mentioned to me that the pain had been ongoing.  So I rang and
asked him, “Jim, would you consider yourself a person in pain?” I  explained the
Windows on Pain fundraiser. “Funny you rang,” he said, “I was beaten up two nights
ago on the train from Parramatta. I’ve got a broken nose and broken ribs and lots
of bruises.  I’m in bed recovering so I’d appreciate the company.”

I spent three mornings at his bedside. This is the second portrait. James is a
theatre critic with forthright views and is not always popular because of that.
He suggested the title Bashed Critic.  He’s described the portrait on his blog (jameswaites.com) “Normally, it’s meant to be the artist who suffers in the
making of art, not the subject - but, as David Marr said to me once in the
swimming pool, ‘You always do everything back to front,  James’ ”.

 

Artist: Wendy Kelly - "Shafts"
Acrylic, oil and thread (removed) on canvas, 122 cm x 122 cm

"When I think of the debilitating nature of chronic pain, my hope would be that
this work could be considered as an attempt to take the individual, through visual
imagery, to reach a place that is beyond the barrier of suffering, whilst still
knowing that the experience is understood. It is an attempt to strike a resonant
cord or spirit in the person in pain, so that the sufferer has something to which
they can relate in a positive way, thus creating a mental space or experience
that may give a renewal of spirit, courage and peace."

 

Artist: Yvonne Boag - "Living Together No.4"
Acylic on canvas, 101 cm x 121 cm

"In my painting Living Together No. 4, the orange rectangle in the house in the
foreground is an indicator of pain that is being experienced by people living in
that dwelling. It is on a shape of yellow which is a  symbol of the hope that the
pain may lessen or disappear. The red  shape above the buildings is the floating
emotional consequences that  this or any pain can cause to the sufferer or
those close to that  person. The black rectangle in the purple house is a person who  
carries anger and fear and will not have empathy for the distress or pain of others."

 

Artist: Andrew Sibley - "Survivors of Flowerdale"
Oil on Belgian linen, 100 cm x 95 cm

 

Artist: William Yang - "Journey 3#"
Silver gelatin print, 50 cm x 62 cm

"This photograph was taken in 1980 at a performance piece by Brandon Cavallari
in the small gallery above Exiles Bookshop, now The Bookshop, in Oxford Street, Darlinghurst, and it is part of my documentation of the underground performance
scene in Sydney at that time.

The image was published as part of three “journey” works in my book Sydney
Diary 1974 – 1984 and was shown at an exhibition of Sydney Diary in 1984,
so it’s a vintage print. It languished in the “don’t scare the horses” section of
my collection until Windows on Pain put out a request. I had it reframed with
the shattered glass which is a story in itself – getting the framer to shatter
the glass. He couldn’t, so eventually I had to do it myself."

 

Artist: Damien Kamholt - "William and Comedy discuss tragedy over tea"
Acrylic on canvas, 90 cm x 90 cm

"When I paint, I try to mostly work at a subconscious level. My work is deliberately
subtle and ambiguous and I prefer that it be experienced at an emotive level
rather than described or interpreted by the intellect.

This painting is from a series of works titled Pink Prop Blues. The series visually
describes a scene where Restoration novelist and dramatist Aphra Behn as a young
child is having a tea party with metaphorical guests Comedy and Tragedy.

This painting depicts Comedy in conversation with a Shakespeare-like hand puppet.
Comedy discusses her knowledge of Shakespeare’s other inspiration, Tragedy.
“We are the same”, she says."

 

Artist: Mitsuo Shoji - "Gaman -Triangle"
Stoneware clay inlaid with coloured slip, 68 cm x 21 cm x 21 cm

"My work is all about cutting and incising the surface ‘skin’ of a ceramic work
which I have handcrafted. I hand coiled and paddled a triangular shape with its
sharp edges which also represent sharp pain.  The incising is also representative
of pain. It is insidious and is often hidden from view. The process of colour
inlay is a slow laborious one, which takes many patient hours of incising,
inlaying, scraping back and re-applying the next colour. Each colour is a separate
application. The sculptural work is high fired in a gas kiln to over 1300 degrees Celsius.

My work is entitled Gaman (tattooing in Japanese) which can also mean patience.
A term that is important for anybody who is experiencing constant pain."

 

Artist: Liz Shreeve - "Aura"
Curled paper and watercolour on paper, Each 56 cm x 56 cm

"Most of us in my family suffer migraine and we’re agreed that if it wasn’t that they
promise future pain, the visual pyrotechnics could be quite beautiful. In this diptych
I wanted to capture the optical disturbance and mental disorientation of an impending migraine coupled with the zen-ness of finding order and breathing through the pain aftermath.  The white work is also a reference to the Windows on Pain logo." 

 

Artist: Mika Utzon Popov - "Untitled"
Lithograph, 76.5 cm x 57 cm

"This work follows the spinal cord through the back with all it transmitting of impulses,
energy and stimulus.  It is inspired in part by my own long-term spinal problems
since the age of 15 and my fascination with the mechanisms of this structure within us.

Until we experience pain to where it debilitates us, we are unaware of  the incredibly
delicate and complex workings of our own bodies. It is  in fact through pain that
we become aware of not only the body but also of self, as  it forces us to reform
our lives around or with it."

 

Artist: Jude Rae - "Corridor (Paris) "
Charcoal on paper, 200 cm x 140 cm

"The building is the Cité Internationale des Arts in the Marais district of Paris
where artists from all over the world stay. I have stayed there several times.
De Gaulle granted the land after the War on the condition it could become a
hospital in a national emergency. Sometimes it feels very much like a hospital.

The image of the darkened corridor is a cliché for struggle - literally "a light at the
end of the tunnel".  It remains one of the most effective metaphors for the relationship between hope and despair.  The artist in me is attracted to the idea of trying to breathe life into art forms that are considered tired and banal.  In any case, I am not sure the irony commonly employed to revive clichés would make much sense to someone in pain."

 

Artist: Sue Rawlinson - "The Passionate Quilter"
Oil on masonite, 71 cm x 71 cm

"The “passionate quilter” is my friend, Cheryl Baume, who lives with chronic pain.
After contracting rheumatoid arthritis over twenty-five years ago, Cheryl began creating beautiful textile objects, including quilts, as a way of dealing with this crippling disease.

This painting, an interpretation of elements of one of her quilts and her tools,
is an attempt to portray something of the vitality, colour and optimism of this
remarkable and inspiring woman."

 

Artist: Annie Kennedy - "The Company"
Book, hydrostone, cedar and bronze, 34 cm x 35 cm x 27.5 cm

"The Company honours the love, dedication and work offered by the carers of those
who are ill, injured and in pain.  Their loyalty and perseverance, in the midst of often overwhelming situations, shows great courage. Their visits, conversation, empathy  

and links to the world beyond pain give them an invaluable role. They are,
for their loved ones … great company."

 

Artist: Chia Moan - "Shrinking World"
Pastel, ink on Italian canvas, 180 cm x 110 cm

"This picture is inspired by conversations with pain patients, one in particular,
who said she felt like Alice disappearing down the rabbit hole, with the aperture
at the top growing smaller and smaller. 

People who live with chronic pain deal very literally with shrinking options in
their lives. If and how I can work, exercise, socialise, travel?  Usual activities
are affected, all subjected to scrutiny: what is possible, what is not?  People
speak frequently about not being able to communicate their pain, wearing a mask.

In this scene Alice has taken a pill that makes her grow and grow, finally
pressing her head against the ceiling to prevent her neck being broken. She is
trapped inside the house of the White Rabbit.  Cramped and desperate though she
is, underneath, Alice's experience is that reality is constantly being transformed. 

Likewise many people move through and with their pain to re-cast reality in
amazing ways with imagination and determination."  

 

Artist: Michael Leunig - "Help"
Acrylic on canvas, 30 cm x 30 cm

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