This exhibition started life in 2015 as a general exhibition drawn from the National Gallery of Australia’s substantial collection of Australian abstract art.  The topic seemed too broad and amorphous given that abstraction had become one of the dominant tendencies in art throughout the entire twentieth century. I kept returning to the works in the collection by women artists – that seemed to be the most interesting path to pursue.  It was obvious that many of the women artists were pioneers and yet their story and contribution had been dominated by their male counterparts. For example, the famous Field exhibition in Melbourne in 1968 only contained works by three women artists.

 Abstraction contained the work of 38 women artists and over 80 works, many which had not been shown since their acquisition. I wrote enough material for a book, but in the end a slim volume was published to accompany the exhibition (now out of print). The larger manuscript on the fabulous and interesting lives of these women of abstraction to be published. During the project I interviewed a group of women artists and those audio interviews containing rare insights are published online at the National Gallery of Australia Research Reference Library and can be consulted as text and audio.