Paperfolk Inspiration: The Art of Australia

Edmund Capon, The Art of Australia host

I have to confess that my guilty pleasure when my little girl is asleep is to go through all of the past weeks programmes on BBC4 via iplayer and catch up on anything interesting i've missed while being knee deep in dirty nappies.

My last flick through brought The Art of Australia: Strangers in a Strange Land to my attention. Before viewing, I realised that, despite working in a museum, I actually know very little about Australian Art. I often feel that Australian art and artists are misrepresented in Europe as there always tends to be a focus on Aboriginal art in museums and very little attention paid to modern art from Australia.

The programme was one of three parts with the first episode focussing on how the history of Australia's indigenous was misrepresented by Europeans who settled in the country. The host, Edmund Capon, shows examples of Impressionist art in Australia when this style of painting is often only attributed to artists working in France at that time. There is also discussions with modern artists who have been inspired by the history of Australian Art and directly comment on it through their work.

I have been a little more open to the vibrancy and talent within the Australian art scene through reading magazines like Frankie and also just being more active on Twitter and Pinterest. It's so bizarre that I know very little about art produced in a country of this size!

I thoroughly recommend the programme and if you get round to watching it yourself let me know what you think...