Mairin Briody
How did your journey begin as an artist?
I grew up in a creative family. My mum is a dancer, singer and actor and as a child I spent quite a bit of time in rehearsal spaces and theatres around Sydney, so there was always music and costumes and make-up when I was a kid. I also got to sit-in and watch many of my mum's classes she taught at various unis as a Movement and Characterisation teacher and I think movement was really the hook for me. I wasn't much of a performer myself, I always drew and painted, but movement or dance/performance was the thing I followed through my university degree in film theory and art history, and movement is what I'm interested in with colour, rhythm and form in my work now.
How would you describe your practice?
Until recently I worked in whatever space I could find at home, but in the last month I've moved into my first real studio. My practice is designed around having a small child, it was only really after my daughter arrived that my practice became a consuming priority, so I knew I needed to find a way to make it sustainable for me - at the beginning, it was very small, very practical, logistic. But as my daughter has grown so has my practice and I'm interested to see how it will evolve in this new studio.
What are you working on right now?
Right now I'm finishing up the last of my commissions after my 2020 Signal exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ballarat and I'm starting to devise the program I'll be working on later this year in collaboration with Mount Pleasant Primary School as part of our Creative Learning Partnership through Creative Victoria.
What is your connection to Ballarat?
My Dad grew up in Clunes for a while so I spent a bit of time in the region as a kid (I grew up on Dharawal Country, south of Sydney) but I come to be on Wadawurrung Country now as my husband grew up here and his family still lives here.
How would you describe the creative community in Ballarat?
Quietly achieving. There is an enormous amount of talent in this place working across many disciplines and I would be honoured if I were considered among them.
Can you give us three words that sum your inspiration?
Just keep moving.
Images L to R.
Mairin in the studio. Photo: Ben Cox.
Portal, Acrylic on canvas
Division Bell, Acrylic on canvas
This is everything, Acrylic on canvas
Pale blue dot, Acrylic on canvas
2020 Signal exhibition at Backspace, Art Gallery of Ballarat. Photo: Ben Cox.
