Patricia Piccinini was born in Sierra Leone and grew up in Canberra. She received a BFA from the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne in 1991. In 1994 she initiated The Basement Project Gallery in Melbourne, which she coordinated until 1996. Her 2003 exhibition We Are Family represented Australia at the 50th Venice Biennale. Piccinini’s work has been shown in numerous solo exhibitions nationally and internationally including Hold Me Close To Your Heart at Arter Space For Art, Istanbul, Relativity at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, (tiernas) Criaturas / (tender) Creatures at Artium, Vitoria-Gasteiz in Spain and Call of the Wild at the MCA, Sydney. In 2013 she created The Skywhale commission for the Centenary of Canberra and she received the 2014 Melbourne Art Foundation Visual Arts Award. Her solo exhibition LIKE US: Patricia Piccinini is on display at the Newcastle Art Gallery between 29 November 2014 and 22 February 2015.
