Controversial artist Elizabeth Durack gave us a sensitive insight into the lives of Papuan women
- Written by Roxanne Missingham, University Librarian, Australian National University
Sister Mary Rose, Elizabeth Durack, 1968
In the 1960s, controversial Australian artist Elizabeth Durack challenged the portrayals of Pacific Islanders with her portraits of Papuan women. Until that time, such portraits had emphasised bare breasts and the intellectual view of indigenous Pacific Islanders as “noble savages” or “extr...