Word/Play: exploring the use of text in the MPRG Collection
STEPHANIE SACCO CURATOR COLLECTIONS
During his long and varied artistic career, pioneering American artist Bruce Nauman has worked in an extremely broad range of media including drawing, sculpture, performance and video work. One of the many themes explored in his practice is the functionality of language through the depiction of words. There is a lingering and purposeful uncertainty in Nauman’s text-based works. As Nauman explains, ‘when language begins to break down a little bit, it becomes exciting and communicates in nearly the simplest way that it can function: you are forced to be aware of the sounds and the poetic parts of words.’ 1
The true artist helps the world by revealing mystic truths, 1967, currently on display at Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery on long-term loan from the National Gallery of Australia, is a neonmade text statement of which the meaning is deliberately unclear. The artist describes the poetic statement as: ‘a kind of test—like when you say something out loud to see if you believe it. Once written down, I could see that the statement, “The true artist helps the world by revealing mystic truths” was on the one hand a totally silly idea and yet, on the other hand, I believed it. It’s true and it’s not true at the same time. It depends on how you interpret it and how seriously you take yourself.’
Taking inspiration from Nauman’s playful and profound use of text in his artistic practice, and especially in response to this
work, Do You Read Me shines a light on works in the MPRG Collection which deploy the use of text to convey their meaning, or are centred around the themes of language and communication. Featuring works acquired over the past 50 years, the exhibition presents over 30 works from the Gallery’s permanent collection.
Bruce Nauman
The true artist helps the world by revealing mystic truths (Window or wall sign) 1967
National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/ Canberra, purchased 1978
© Bruce Nauman. ARS/Copyright Agency, 2025
This work of art is on long term loan from the National Gallery of Australia with support from the Australian Government as part of Sharing the National Collection.
Like in Nauman’s practice, the inclusion of text can mystify the meaning of a work, highlighting the complexities of language and how we communicate with one another. When artists combine words and phrases with unlikely or apparently unrelated imagery, we are forced to question what we are looking at and what we are being told. While making Life After Bacon, 2006, Gareth Sansom added words to his series of drawings. Inspired by the life of the artist Francis Bacon, the phrases do not necessarily relate to the images that they are adjacent to, with Sansom intentionally trying for juxtapositions that seemed obscure and somewhat irrational. In a similar vein, Suzanne Archer’s Messenger Masks, 2018, are inscribed with unintelligible random sentences and passing thoughts, encouraging audiences to question what the masks are trying to tell us, if anything at all.
Gareth Sansom Life after Bacon 2006 watercolour, pencil, synthetic polymer paint, ink, biro, enamel, gouache on paper, 12 sheets
Winner of National Works on Paper Acquisition Award with funds provided by Beleura - The Tallis Foundation and the Regional Galleries Collections Fund, Arts Victoria, 2006 © the artist
Some artists use words linguistically, in a way that we might associate more with literature rather than visual art, to create narratives. For example, Susan Fereday’s work I strip, I wish, 2000, lists five dramatic scenarios featuring an unknown protagonist. When strung together as a longer-form narrative, the resulting body of text is humorous, yet mysterious. The compositions of Jennifer Mills feature shifting and parallel conversations that are laid on top of each other to impose diverse narratives, with text appearing throughout in a ‘cacophony of meaning and banality’. 2
Text-based materials, which communicate their own messages in their original format, can be repurposed by artists to rewrite their meaning. Mandy Gunn’s practice makes use of the discarded paper objects of our daily lives, which carry their own innate history and references. Based on an historical bureaucratic document received through the Freedom of Information Act, Lisa Waup’s work Admit to Care, 2014, is created from an ‘Order to Admit to Care of the Children’s Welfare Department’ by which the artist’s birth mother and her siblings were put into care at a young age. Waup stitches over the top of the document, symbolising the reattachment of fragments of history, creating a replacement of ancestral Indigenous history that is unknown and lost.3 Handwritten notes found on the street are used by Vin Ryan as a starting point for his drawings, creating an illustrated fiction which begins with real people and real situations. Jenna Lee’s handmade paper vessels are created from deconstructed pages of a colonial text which feature derogatory and harmful stereotypes of First Nations people, reconstructing these hurtful words into a story of personal and cultural resilience, and strength.4
Lisa Waup Admit to Care 2014
inkjet print on cotton rag paper, cotton and silk stitching and synthetic polymer paint
Purchased with funds provided by the Mornington Peninsula Shire, 2014
© the artist
Some artists choose to include text to communicate their stance on political issues or to critique society. An instantly recognisable format is the political cartoon, which often combines text, caricatures and symbols with humour and insight. Examples by cartoonist John Spooner (b. 1946), acquired by the Gallery in 2006 and 2007, cleverly juxtapose image and words to comment daily on federal politics and current world events, reaching the large readership of The Age newspaper in which they were originally published. Siri Hayes’ work Lungs of the bay: Mangrove Mudflats and Seagrass at Jacks Beach, 2019, is a photograph of the artist’s daughter, taken on Mornington Peninsula’s Jacks Beach, boldly holding up a sign that reads ‘HELP SAVE THE SEAGRASS’. The work continues her family’s legacy of environmental activism to protect Western Port Bay. Locust Jones’ metres-long scrolls feature a chaotic mass of news headlines, drawing attention to the oppressive and overwhelming nature of the 24-hour news cycle that society has become accustomed to.
The Guerrilla Girls used a commission opportunity from the Public Art Fund in New York to design a billboard that compared the number of women artists represented in The Met with the number of nude female bodies featured in the works on display at the museum. While the Public Art Fund ultimately rejected it as a billboard, citing reasons of lack of clarity, the composition has since achieved iconic status for its bold, eye-catching graphic design, as well as its clear message regarding the lack of gender diversity in art institutions in the 1980s.5 Juan Davila’s God and country, 1989, was created in the wake of national celebrations to mark the bicentenary of European settlement. A year later it appeared as a huge poster over an inner suburban
street amidst advertisements for beer and printing centres.6 The patriotic title of the work is in stark contrast to the prominent racist word which dominates the composition. The text is surrounded by comical depictions of Australiana and the buzz words of art history, commenting on the politics and hypocrisies of inclusion and exclusion.
The use of text can provide insight into thought processes of the artist or evoke deeply personal narratives. Jonas Ropponen arranges discarded thoughts, deep memories and snippets of family dynamics in random alignments; private worries are made public in Fade to Black, There is a light, 2016. The list of the names of Katherine Hattam’s favourite beaches in To the Beach, 2023, serve as a visual shorthand of the personal experiences she had at each location, yet it speaks universally of the place of the beach in our lives and of its role in the making of memories.
(6)
2025, https://kallirolfecontemporaryart. com/artists/juan-davila/texts/post/juan-davila-the-artist-as-historian/index.html
Juan Davila God and country 1989
linocut
Gift of Ian Rogers, 2002
© Juan Davila, Courtesy Kalli Rolfe Contemporary Art
Shane Carmody, “Juan Davila: The Artist as Historian”, Kalli Rolfe Contemporary Art, accessed 15 May
For Robert Fielding, the words ‘Generations’, ‘Kinship’ and ‘Broken’ were first written down while the artist was thinking about the years leading up to the 1967 referendum, and about the different ways of remembering history. Fielding states that ‘these words created a starting point for me to explore the complex layers of these histories. To forgive. To grieve. To honour. To be one with the land. To be who I am now.’ 7 In this 2023 series of screen prints, the words themselves are the primary material and subject matter—a reliance on the strength of the typography which speaks to the simplicity and power of words and language.
Katherine Hattam To the Beach 2023 woodcut Purchased, 2024 © the artist
(7) Robert Fielding, artist statement, 2023
Robert Fielding Broken 2023 offset monoprint
Purchased with the support of the Robert Salzer Foundation Acquisition Fund, 2023
Courtesy of the artist and Mimili Maku Arts
Contemporary artists continue to use text and language as a powerful form of artistic expression. Personal, poetic, playful and political, this selection of works from the MPRG Collection offer varied insights into human culture, history, memory and experience.
Lee re/verse/d 2020
handmade paper from pages of colonial texts, Larrakia
Purchased from National Works on Paper by Friends of the MPRG, 2020 © the artist, represented by MARS Gallery
Jenna
ochre, synthetic polymer paint, PVA glue
LIST OF WORKS
Suzanne ARCHER
b. 1945 United Kingdom; arr. Australia 1965
Messenger Masks 2018 paper, ink, charcoal, chalk pastel, graphite, synthetic polymer paint, metal stands
Purchased from National Works on Paper, 2020
Judith CHAMBERS
b. Hong Kong 1937; arr. Australia 1970 Paper tigers 1974 colour etching on thick wove cream paper
Purchased from Prints Acquisitive, 1974
Greg CREEK
b. Australia 1959
Desktop drawing V 17.3.94–1.4.94 1994 coloured pencils, pencil, watercolour, pen and ink, conté crayon, ballpoint pen, pastel, and collage of packaging tape, cellotape and printed paper on paper, aluminium table
Purchased from the Spring Festival of Drawing, 1995
Juan DAVILA
b. Chile 1946; arr. Australia 1974 God and country 1989 linocut
Gift of Ian Rogers, 2002
Susan FEREDAY
b. Australia 1959
I strip, I wish 2000 watercolour, gouache and ink on wallpaper
Purchased from National Works on Paper, 2000
Robert FIELDING
b. Australia 1969
Language groups: Western Arrernte, Yankunytjatjara, Pitjantjatjara Nganampa Wangka 2018
inkjet print on photo rag with burnt and pierced alterations
Purchased from National Works on Paper by Friends of the MPRG, 2020
Robert FIELDING
b. Australia 1969
Language groups: Western Arrernte, Yankunytjatjara, Pitjantjatjara Generations 2023
offset monoprint
Purchased with the support of the Robert Salzer Foundation Acquisition Fund, 2023
Robert FIELDING
b. Australia 1969
Language groups: Western Arrernte, Yankunytjatjara, Pitjantjatjara Kinship 2023
offset monoprint
Purchased with the support of the Robert Salzer Foundation Acquisition Fund, 2023
Robert FIELDING
b. Australia 1969
Language groups: Western Arrernte, Yankunytjatjara, Pitjantjatjara
Broken 2023
offset monoprint
Purchased with the support of the Robert Salzer Foundation Acquisition Fund, 2023
Robert FIELDING
b. Australia 1969
Language groups: Western Arrernte, Yankunytjatjara, Pitjantjatjara
Milkali Kutju 2020
digital print on textured cotton rag paper produced by Mimili Maku Arts Collection of Susan McCulloch OAM
Mike GREEN
b. New Zealand 1941; arr. Australia 1945 Ideas are Bulletproof (purple edition) 2023
screenprint in 6 colours on paper Commissioned for MPRG Print Edition #2
Printed by Trent Walter at Negative Press, 2023
Mike GREEN
b. New Zealand 1941; arr. Australia 1945 Ideas are Bulletproof (green edition) 2023
screenprint in 6 colours on paper Commissioned for MPRG Print Edition #2
Printed by Trent Walter at Negative Press, 2023
Mike GREEN
b. New Zealand 1941; arr. Australia 1945 Ideas are Bulletproof (orange edition) 2023
screenprint in 6 colours on paper Commissioned for MPRG Print Edition #2
Printed by Trent Walter at Negative Press, 2023
Mike GREEN
b. New Zealand 1941; arr. Australia 1945 Ideas are Bulletproof (yellow edition) 2023
screenprint in 6 colours on paper Commissioned for MPRG Print Edition #2
Printed by Trent Walter at Negative Press, 2023
Guerrilla Girls
Active since 1985, United States of America
Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum? 1989 (reprinted 1995) digital print on paper Purchased, 2012
Mandy GUNN
b. England 1943; arr. Australia 1966
Return to the city 2000
printed public transport tickets on corrugated cardboard Purchased from National Works on Paper, 2000
Richard HARDING
b. Australia 1959
Eventide: between time and space 2016 linocut, acrylic and flocked glitter on paper
Gift of the artist, 2016
Katherine HATTAM
b. Australia 1950
To the Beach 2023 woodcut Purchased, 2024
Siri HAYES
b. Australia 1977
Lungs of the bay: Mangrove Mudflats and Seagrass at Jacks Beach 2019 pigment print on paper
Donated through the Australian Governments’s Cultural Gifts Program by Walter Reid and Colin Smurthwaite, 2021
Deanna HITTI
b. Australia 1975
TOWLA 2017
artist’s book screenprint
Purchased from National Works on Paper, 2018
Jake HOLMES
b. United Kingdom 1988; arr. Australia 1997
Kilburn 1 2015 31 layer screenprint on paper
Purchased by Mornington Peninsula Shire, 2016
Anna HOYLE
b. Australia 1969
1800BIOSEKURE 2022
gouache and synthetic polymer paint on paper Winner of National Works on Paper, 2022
Locust JONES
b. New Zealand 1963; arr. Australia 1988 Geronimo 2011 ink, pencil and watercolour on paper Purchased from National Works on Paper with funds provided by Mornington Peninsula Shire and anonymous donors, 2012
Locust JONES
b. New Zealand 1963; arr. Australia 1988 Orb (Climate change) c.2010 gesso and ink on papier-mâché orb Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2022
Locust JONES
b. New Zealand 1963; arr. Australia 1988 Orb (Headline News I) 2010 gesso and ink on papier-mâché orb Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2022
Locust JONES
b. New Zealand 1963; arr. Australia 1988 Orb (Headline News II) c.2010 gesso and ink on papier-mâché orb Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2022
Jenna LEE
b. Australia 1992
Language groups: Larraki, Wrdamaan and Karajarri re/verse/d 2020
handmade paper from pages of colonial texts, Larrakia ochre, synthetic polymer paint, PVA glue
Purchased from National Works on Paper by Friends of the MPRG, 2020
Jennifer MILLS
b. Australia 1966
In the echo chamber (If I were you I would do more listening than talking) 2014 gouache, watercolour, ink, pencil and oil pastel on paper
Purchased with funds provided by the Ursula Hoff Institute, 2014
Jonas ROPPONEN
b. Sweden 1977; arr. Australia 1983 Fade to Black, There is a light 2016 linocut on card
Purchased from National Works on Paper, 2016
Vin RYAN
b. Australia 1969
Dialogue No 2 (5 found hand written notes) 2009–2010
5 found hand-written notes and 5 watercolour and pencil drawings on paper
Purchased from the 2010 Beleura National Works on Paper with funds provided by the Mornington Peninsula Shire and Beleura—The Tallis Foundation
Gareth SANSOM
b. Australia 1939
Life after Bacon 2006 watercolour, pencil, synthetic polymer paint, ink, biro, enamel, gouache on paper, 12 sheets
Winner of National Works on Paper Acquisition Award with funds provided by Beleura—The Tallis Foundation and the Regional Galleries Collections Fund, Arts Victoria, 2006
John SPOONER
b. Australia 1946
The Spoilsport 2005 pencil, pen, ink and wash Gift of the artist through the Cultural Gifts Program, 2006
John SPOONER
b. Australia 1946
Three immovable objects meet a very moveable force 2005 pen and ink and wash
Gift of the artist through the Cultural Gifts Program, 2006
John SPOONER
b. Australia 1946
The Aspirational Arms 2004 pencil, pen, ink and wash Gift of the artist through the Cultural Gifts Program, 2006
TEXTAQUEEN
b. Australia 1975
Where will we go when the world implodes? (Taylor Mac) 2006 felt-tip markers on paper
Purchased from National Works on Paper, 2008
Clayton TREMLETT
b. Australia 1964
The enigma of darkness, a tribute to Mr Eternity 2016 linocut on paper
Gift of the artist, 2016
Lisa WAUP
b. Australia 1971
Language group: Gunditjmara Admit to Care 2014
inkjet print on cotton rag paper, cotton and silk stitching and synthetic polymer paint
Purchased with funds provided by the Mornington Peninsula Shire, 2014
Lisa WAUP
b. Australia 1971
Language group: Gunditjmara Religious Order 2014 inkjet print on cotton rag paper, with cotton and silk stitching (in red, black and white)
Donated by the artist through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2021
Do You Read Me
An MPRG Exhibition
14 June to 24 August 2025
Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery
mprg.mornpen.vic.gov.au
Civic Reserve, Dunns Rd
Mornington Victoria 3931
11am-4pm, Tuesday-Sunday FREE ENTRY
Curated
by Stephanie
Sacco
Catalogue published by Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery
©2025 Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, the artists and authors.
Every reasonable effort has been made to trace copyright but MPRG welcomes any information that clarifies the copyright ownership of any unattributed material.
Mornington Peninsula Shire acknowledges and pays respect to the Bunurong / BoonWurrung people, the traditional custodians of these lands and waters.
Do You Read Me, installation view, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery. Artwork by Robert Fielding and Locust Jones.