Shayne Higson
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Shayne Higson, dis-integrate, 2002,
collection National Gallery of Australia (Canberra) |
Shayne Higson is a contemporary Australian photographic artist and printmaker, born in 1960. She was best known for her evocative, politically engaged fine art that addresses social issues, as well as her prominent activism in the voluntary euthanasia movement.
Higson’s photographic practice often combined images with hand-drawn elements, digital manipulation, or manufactured scenes. She frequently explored topical issues such as the plight of asylum seekers (e.g., her exhibition New Horizons) and the environment (e.g., Strange Land, which drew on the 1844 shipwreck of Barbara Thompson in the Torres Strait).
Beyond her art, she became a highly visible public advocate for voluntary euthanasia after witnessing her mother's traumatic death from brain cancer in 2012. She served as a lead candidate and campaigner for the Voluntary Euthanasia Party in several Australian elections.
Educated at East Sydney Technical College and the Sydney College of the Arts, her work has been regularly exhibited in Australian galleries, museums, and institutions since the early 1980s.
Shayne Higson - baggage 2002, small essay by Gael Newton AM
Stills Gallery (Sydney) now closed, maintains an online presence for Shayne Higson, with two portfolios:
Attachment and New Horizons
Museum of Australian photography (Melbourne) holds the 1991 B/W series, strange land
The National Gallery of Australia hold 17 works
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