Lucienne Fontannaz is originally from Switzerland. She holds Masters Degree qualifications in Art Education, Art Administration and Fine Arts. She has taught art, exhibited her paintings and published books in Switzerland, Canada, Australia and China. She has also worked as a curator of major art exhibitions on subjects such as historic and contemporary Aboriginal artworks, Chinese memorabilia and art addressing cultural diversity, language and identity. For a decade, Lucienne painted imaginary landscapes inspired by the Swiss Alps and by Australian desert scenery. For the past 5 years her artworks have addressed the stereotypical representation of women, the body and sexuality in to-day’s media. 

Artist's Statement

My work looks at the interplay of inner feelings and outer appearances that informs the construction of women. It also addresses the romantic, the erotic and the exploitative experience of the body, played out under the flickering candle light of history and in the bright spotlight of to-day’s popular media, with its proliferation of eroticised images as well as degrading and violent pornography, easily accessible on the internet. Further, my images explore how this intimate theatre of most personal human experience co-exists within the context of the grandest stage of all -­ our understanding and rendering of an ever-expanding Universe. My aim is to achieve a resolve between a critical analysis of past and present approaches to imaging women, individually and in relationships, and to work towards a celebratory representation of the body, gender and sexuality.