Roxanne Hills

Born 1960 in the Wimmera Victoria, it was a very good Christmas that year

for my parents as they had their first child. I spent my child and teenage years on a

small property on the edge of the Little Desert National Park in the West Wimmera

shire. This is in a rural setting with scrub that was constantly being explored by my

siblings and me, from this experience and the knowledge from my parents I learnt

a lot about the flora and fauna and how to read the land and its seasonal changes.

This is an influence that is evident in most of my art work.

I have four children whom are inspiring and very supportive; so much so that my

Daughter and I studied together this was very good as we bounced ideas off of each

other and still do.

In 1994 we moved from the Wimmera to Mildura this was to give my children and

me a better future a new start. Living here is where I feel that I belong a part of this

land, it is home.

I started studying at the Sunraysia Institute of TAFE in 2006 doing the ATSICA

(Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Certificate in Art) certificate III (I only wanted

to learn screen printing) and enjoyed this as my career up to this point was a

seamstress, from here I then followed on doing certificate IV. In 2008 I completed

Diploma of Visual Arts, 2011 I completed the Bachelor of Arts (Honours) course at

Latrobe University in Mildura. I have gained so much in the last six years of study and

expanded my knowledge in the arts.

Throughout my early Visual Arts training in Certificate and Diploma levels I

developed skills relating to specific areas like Ceramics, Sculpture, Painting,

Printmaking and Photography. I enjoy working with all these mediums but at this

stage of my practice I am working with photography and installation.

Two artists that have influenced me with their sculptural and installation practice are

Australian artists Rosalie Gascoigne and Lorraine Connelly Northey they both collect

materials from the natural and man-made environment to use in their practice.

Other artists that inspire me with their photography are Darren Swies and Ricky

Maynard.

Title:

‘You Me and Nan’

This crafted facsimile of the outside of a handbag is a small section of a series of work that has been

created about female identity that has been explored through the contents and style of individual

women’s handbags. The contents will vary greatly depending on the person’s lifestyle, age and

needs. A woman’s handbag is a mysterious dungeon, the key to her real self. She fills it with items

that seem necessary for everyday life, a moveable base for her supplies. Each handbag has its own

secrets. Traditionally a woman’s handbag is a sacred, private space and others should not intrude. It

will be like being exposed to “secret women’s business” since traditionally women’s handbags have

been a place where men do not go.

I have created facsimiles of the outside and inside of handbags using paper and plaster. The paper

handbag has been hand sewn as dressmaking was and still is part of my life and I found this is a way

of incorporating the two main creative aspects. The plaster handbag shows the inside a part rarely

exposed, just as each handbag is and so the contents change and as does the handbag over the

years. I want to trigger memories in the female audience and have them think about their own lives

and how they have changed along with the contents of their bags. It is this aspect of privacy and

hidden secrets that I am exploring and the handbag is a symbol of the holder of women’s secrets and

the “baggage” we carry with us in our lives.

The reason for me dealing with handbags is that all the years of me carrying a handbag how the the

contents and the shape and size of the bags have changed throughout my life. When I started to use

a handbag it was small but gradually got bigger as the years went on. When I had young children the

size increased considerably. Now I don’t carry a bag unless I go away from my town. I can usually

carry what I need in my pockets.

This woven fish is an important part of Indigenous culture for the Aborigines that lived on the fringe
of water sources. It represents people, food and also the intricate forms of nets and traps that were
developed. These were created from natural materials which assisted them with trapping of fish and
also the transportation of them.