Patricia Piccinini

Growth in an artificial environment is the domain of interest for Australian artist Patricia Piccinini whose work was at Gow Langsford Gallery Auckland, New Zealand in 2003.

Australia’s representative at the 2003 Venice Biennale, Piccinini uses computer technology, photography, sculpture, installation and moving image to investigate humanity’s confrontation with science and technology. Her series of photographs of SO2, the Siren Mole, feature a warped laboratory creature through which the artist deals directly with the implications of contemporary genetic technologies. Because the creature is an animal, rather than a human being, it allows audiences to address genetic issues without the heightened emotions that the idea of human cloning and manipulation evokes. Through the Siren Mole, she asks questions such as 'why would you create new life?' and 'where would it belong?'.

The Mole has oozed out of the test tube and petrie dish and into the car parks, streets, playgrounds and homes of suburban Australians. Hanging with the petrol heads, riding with the skateboarders and negotiating the mall, Piccinini’s creature is one of the gang.

Art News New Zealand, Sue Gardiner, Summer 2003.