{"id":963509,"date":"2026-11-13T23:04:26","date_gmt":"2026-11-13T23:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/963509\/"},"modified":"2026-11-13T23:04:26","modified_gmt":"2026-11-13T23:04:26","slug":"mother-maiden-crone-exhibition-a-cacophony-of-disruptive-female-energy-at-national-portrait-gallery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/963509\/","title":{"rendered":"Mother Maiden Crone exhibition ‘a cacophony of disruptive female energy’ at National Portrait Gallery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Magic, witchcraft, ancient rituals and unbridled sexuality are some of the complex and multifaceted aspects of womanhood explored in the latest exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.<\/p>\n

The gallery says the Mother Maiden Crone exhibition creates “a cacophony of disruptive female energy”, exploring how the bright and beautiful coexist with the dark and distasteful.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

The Daughter (2012) by Del Kathryn Barton. (Supplied: National Portrait Gallery)<\/p>\n

The exhibition contains almost 70 works by three internationally celebrated contemporary artists, including two-time Archibald Prize winner Del Kathryn Barton.<\/p>\n

Barton’s extravagant works were an early inspiration for exhibition co-artist Emily Hunt, whose practice embraces magic and folklore.<\/p>\n

Works by artist Jess Johnson round out the exhibition, with her colourful and geometric style showcasing her science fiction-inspired world.<\/p>\n

Mother Maiden Crone is the first time the three have had their work displayed together.<\/p>\n

‘The unbridled messiness of femaleness’\"A<\/p>\n

Along with artworks on paper, Jess Johnson’s textiles are also on display at the exhibition. (Supplied: National Portrait Gallery)<\/p>\n

Gallery director Bree Pickering said that across the exhibition, craft and the handmade underpinned conceptual and spiritual reckonings with age-old stereotypes.<\/p>\n

“Maiden Mother Crone is an exhibition that is both intricate and intimate, as well as maximalist and expansive,” Ms Pickering said.<\/p>\n

“Each of these artists had a very defined practice, and you’ll see that they have their own visual language.<\/p>\n

“There’s drawing, painting, textiles, ceramics, jewellery, sculpture, and video; and they sit within discreet presentations by each artist, but those presentations sort of blend together in an exhibition that revels in the unbridled messiness of femaleness.”<\/p>\n

The crone as a powerful force for change\"A<\/p>\n

No. 11 from The Pandemonium Series (2026) by Emily Hunt. (Supplied: National Portrait Gallery)<\/p>\n

For Hunt, the driving force of her work is “the question of magic”, with the figure of the crone frequently appearing.<\/p>\n

“I think as a mature artist now, I’m in a position where I can put my credibility on the line and say, ‘Magic is real, and magic works,’ so I find that’s kind of at the core of everything I do,” Hunt said.<\/p>\n

“The figure of the witch, or the crone, is \u2014 I think \u2014 a figure for redemption.<\/p>\n

“Often old women are invisible in society, but there’s an inherent kind of wisdom and power that is held in this position, and I often focus on this crone figure in my work as a kind of powerful force that can also create change.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Jess Johnson says the colourful, geometric nature of her work helps audiences look deeper at the themes of a piece. (ABC News: David Scasci)<\/p>\n

Johnson approaches her similarly maximalist practice through the lens of a science fiction world she has been drawing for over a decade.<\/p>\n

She said her works in the exhibition took archetypes from history and mythology alongside modern ones and re-imagined them within her own universe.<\/p>\n

“On the surface it’s quite geometric and brightly coloured and really detailed, and so I think it’s almost like that’s the candy-coloured coating that people can access into these deeper, more subversive ideas underneath the work,” Johnson said.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Maw (2023) by Jess Johnson is on display at the National Portrait Gallery. (Supplied: National Portrait Gallery)<\/p>\n

“I think it’s quite accessible for people because it’s very graphic and detailed, and there are these hints of story and narration and mythology and symbology in it.<\/p>\n

“Power, and control, and systems of authority and how power is exerted on a population, those are running themes in my work.”Interrogating inherited roles of womanhood\"Serena<\/p>\n

Serena Bentley says the exhibition celebrates women who defy easy categorisation. (ABC News: David Scasci)<\/p>\n

Gallery senior curator Serena Bentley said she was incredibly moved seeing the completed exhibition for the first time.<\/p>\n

“We’ve used the tropes of the maiden, the mother, and the crone as a means of interrogating these inherited roles of womanhood, and how we chose to inhabit them,” she said.<\/p>\n

“But also, how we chose to tear them apart.<\/p>\n

“Maiden Mother Crone celebrates women who defy easy categorisation while revealing and dismantling the contradictions that shape both lived and imagined experiences of womanhood.”<\/p>\n

\"Emily<\/p>\n

Emily Hunt says that the crone, or the witch, is a symbol of redemption and change. (ABC News: David Scasci)<\/p>\n

Hunt said she hoped people attending the unapologetic and “deeply uncynical” exhibition would go in with an open mind.<\/p>\n

“I do care about my audience, but it’s not for everybody,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Magic isn’t for everybody. Feminine ornamentation, decoration, isn’t for everybody.<\/p>\n

“But I think the work, this particular exhibition, is so overwhelming and so powerful and so open and so generous that people will react very strongly to it.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Emily Hunt’s sculpture work and wall drawings are on show throughout the Maiden Mother Crone exhibition. (Supplied: National Portrait Gallery)<\/p>\n

“Everyone does have a little bit of an open mind to the subjects that are in this show.<\/p>\n

“It’s kind of on the periphery, but we’re bringing it a little bit to the front and centre, and bringing it to attention.”<\/p>\n

The Mother Maiden Crone exhibition is on display at the National Portrait Gallery until May 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Magic, witchcraft, ancient rituals and unbridled sexuality are some of the complex and multifaceted aspects of womanhood explored…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":963510,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2666,11480,110663,64,63,22435,2667,531070,531071,134,15940,531075,531072,531069,22429,33394,531073,531074],"class_list":["post-963509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-act","tag-art","tag-artwork","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bree-pickering","tag-canberra","tag-del-kathryn-barton","tag-emily-hunt","tag-entertainment","tag-exhibition","tag-feminine","tag-jess-johnson","tag-mother-maiden-crone","tag-national-portrait-gallery","tag-painting","tag-serena-bently","tag-womanhood"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/963509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=963509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/963509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/963510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=963509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=963509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=963509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}