Trial Paintings

Abstract

Research Statement

In 2016, I received an Australia Council for the Arts ‘Projects for Individuals’ Grant to research and develop, 'Trial Paintings: Life Narratives from the Supreme Court of Queensland'. For this series, I attended a two-week murder trial and made paintings concerning the trial’s narrative; including many divergent perspectives and testimonies. This series of seven original paintings, employed inventive multi-perspectival painting techniques to visualise the difficulty of identifying a singular truth in the context of a legal trial. The works also undertook to visualise the lived experience of the events outlined in the trial. The final exhibition at Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney was reviewed in Artforum, arguably the leading international journal of contemporary art. Art theorist Wes Hill wrote:

Julie Fragar’s paintings have long documented her intellectual restlessness in thick paint and subdued hues. … [I]ncreasingly, her works have taken shape around the imagined narratives of others. In this … absolutely compelling exhibition … all the works here have a sophistication that speaks of an artist at the top of her game, with inventive formal arrangements that seem unburdened by her profound sense of empathy for victims and perpetrators alike. (Hill, Artforum, 2018).

Several of these works were also exhibited in 2019 at the Supreme Court of Queensland. The exhibition was accompanied by a small catalogue and panel discussion with Deirector of Griffith University Art Museum Director Angela Goddard and members of the academic and professional legal communities, including Supreme Court of Queensland Honorable Justice Thomas Bradley.