The theme for International Women’s Day in 2021 is #ChooseToChallenge.

Collectively, we can choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can choose to seek out and celebrate women’s achievements.

Here at FPc we are honoured to represent and showcase the work of such a diverse range of women artists from all over the world. They each take inspiration from their varied cultures, landscapes and experiences, and this is reflected in their own unique works.

We are thrilled to share their work and their stories.

Francesca Owen

With most of the population of Australia residing on the coast, it’s no wonder that the ocean is an integral part of our everyday lives and is a major theme and inspiration for female artists. For photographer Francesca Owen, this connection to the water is strong, as she became involved in synchronised swimmer at an early age. Her work combines her passion for the water and photography, and the result takes you beneath the surface, to a serene world that beautifully captures the elegance and movement of the human body, as evidenced in her work titled Floating. 

Jo Olive

For multidisciplined artist Jo Olive, who is largely self-taught, creating art is an intensely personal, cathartic experience. Her process is quite physical, and she harnesses techniques including scratching, sanding, puncturing, concealing and disclosing to create her abstract artworks. Her pieces take you from bold and daring –the thick white lines and moody darkness of In The Pines to the geometric shapes and calming shades of blue in Rock Pool Gently.

Stacey Weaver

For New Zealand artist, Stacey Weaver, her home is where she finds her creative inspiration- “I enjoy just being in my zone and working there. I feel very grateful. It’s a huge reward, a special thing, that I’m able to be in my home, that it’s comfortable to work there and generate an income doing something I love doing”. Stacey’s selection on FPc invites you to look a little closer to her works – on the surface they appear to be bright beautiful botanicals, in all their natural glory, but on closer inspection there is a blurring of the lines – this dream like painterly effect can be seen in Hydrangea Dance and Bloomy Waters. 

Julie Nangala Robertson

The oldest form of artistic expression in the world, Aboriginal art practice takes us on the individual journey and story of the artist.  Julie Nangala Robertson has pursued and developed a creative visual language of her own. Her works display an optical brilliance as she paints her mother’s Jukurrpa stories which have been passed down to her for generations. Her story and works, as depicted in Mina Mina Dreaming 1 and Mina Mina Dreaming 2, take us to far west Yuendumu, a remote town in the Northern Territory. Here we are taken on the journey of a group of women travelling to gather food, collecting snake vine and performing ceremonies as they travel.

International Women’s Day is a time for us to celebrate all the achievements of women across the world. We need to all come together and #ChooseToChallenge any gender bias or inequality we see. We are reminded of how far we have come, and how far we need to go – not just for one day a year, but for every day of the year.

Here at FPc we champion the work of our women artists. We value their contribution in making our lives richer and offering us different perspectives.

For the month of March, 5% of every purchase will be donated to Support The Girls – a unique charity that provides a grassroots framework to empower women to escape the cycle of poverty, violence, trauma and other structural oppressions.