True Stories - Helen Garner

Helen Garner (b. 1942) is one of Australia's best-known writers. Her first novel, the semi-autobiographical Monkey Grip (1977), won a National Book Council Award and was made into a film released in 1982. Honour and Other People's Children (1980), Postcards from Surfers (1985), The Children's Bach (1984), Cosmo Cosmolino (1992), True Stories (1997) and The Feel of Steel (2001) followed. Since the 1990s Garner has pursued a variety of ethical questions in journal articles and non-fiction books. In 1993 she won a Walkley Award for her Time magazine article about Daniel Valerio, a two-year-old who died of abuse inflicted by his mother's boyfriend. Two years later her book The First Stone, exploring claims of sexual harassment at Melbourne University, caused a sensation. Her rumination on the murder of a Canberra student, Joe Cinque's Consolation, was published in 2004 and made into a film in 2016.

For this portrait, artist Jenny Sages created a series of oil sketches before laying down the fundamental elements in wax and red pigment. 'Then, with my heart in my mouth, I dipped my fingers into the wax medium and then into the pigment. Using my fingers as a brush, I just hoped for the best …' The work glows with the light of the studio and reflects the warm relationship between the women.

Gift of the artist 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
© Jenny Sages