Neon Parc acknowledges the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Bunurong Boon Wurrung as the Traditional Owners and sovereign custodians of the Country on which we operate. We pay our deepest respects to their Elders past and present. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.
Neon Parc is thrilled to present ‘Simone Weil Project: Human Personality’, a collaborative exhibition by Janet Burchill & Jennifer McCamley, alongside ‘Solastalgia’, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Janet Burchill, opening at Neon Parc Brunswick on Friday 27 June, 6–8pm.
Janet Burchill & Jennifer McCamley’s ‘Simone Weil Project: Human Personality’ comprises a series of new silkscreen paintings, continuing the artists’ long-term project looking at the life and writings of the philosopher, political activist and mystic Simone Weil (1909–43). Female writers have been regular subject matter for Burchill and McCamley. The artists were particularly drawn to Weil because of the “extraordinary intensity and precision” of her writings and the concern for justice which permeated her life and thought. In this new series, the artists have overlaid a found image of Weil’s face, her eyes closed, mid-blink, with excerpts from Weil’s text Human Personality (1942-43), written at the end of her life. Through a process of colour manipulation, image shifting and repetition, Burchill and McCamley present Weil’s visage as fractured and multiplied—a portrait refracted through time.
Janet Burchill and Jennifer McCamley have been at the forefront of conceptual and feminist art since the early 1980s, producing a body of work that is as intellectually compelling as it is visually arresting. Working both collaboratively and individually, their multidisciplinary practice spans photography, printmaking, sculpture, text, painting, and neon, continually pushing the boundaries of artistic expression. Their work draws on diverse influences, including political and artistic manifestos, modernist legacies, and conceptual art.
Their important retrospective Temptation to Co-Exist at Heide Museum of Modern Art (2019) solidified their status as two of Australia’s most thought-provoking and influential artists. Their work continues to challenge, disrupt, and redefine the parameters of contemporary artistic discourse.
Burchill / McCamley’s work is held in numerous public and private collections, including the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; Monash University Collection, Melbourne; Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo; Griffith University, Brisbane; Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne; Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart; and Artbank Australia.
Janet Burchill & Jennifer McCamley Human Personality (Simone Weil Project: Human Personality), 2025. Silkscreen, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 152 x 122 cm.
Janet Burchill & Jennifer McCamley, ‘The Earth Reversed Her Hemispheres’, 2024. Neon, 94 x 101 x 7 cm. Edition of 1 + 1 AP.
