Annabelle McEwen

9. Annabelle McEwen, Maculate [Self Scan], 2025, image transfer on Polylactic acid, 23 x 23 x 0.5 cm. $350

As our autonomy is skewed, content we consume is puppeteered by commercially driven algorithms, and our bodies are targeted. Maculate [Self Scan] presents stained imagery of my body in motion. The imagery of the body undulates with the fluidity of the chainmail, an armour designed to unify with the body in an act of protection. This work questions how we might protect our bodies from the insidious distorting capabilities of the commodified virtual gaze. My body is maculate within the maelstrom of altered and curated content. Staining a digital depiction of my body onto printed chainmail is an act of error and glitch, rupturing the artifice of the image. 

Annabelle McEwen (She/They) is a multidisciplinary artist practising on unceded Gadigal Land (Eora/Sydney) with a Masters of Fine Art. McEwen was awarded The Ellen O’Shaughnessy Printmaking Award (2019) and the Summer Fellowship at The SLNSW (2025). They were a finalist in The National Photographic Portrait Prize at The National Portrait Gallery (2024), The Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize (2024 and 2023) among many others.

Recent notable shows include solo exhibition The Smartest Horse in the World at Ethan Frome, Dead Ringer at Tiles Lewisham, Sydney Contemporary with The National Art School and DISRUPTION at KMITL, Bangkok, Thailand. 

Their work has been acquired by The National Art School, The City of Sydney Art Collection, RMIT Printmaking Collection, Curtin Uni Printmaking Collection and Southern Cross University Printmaking Collection among others.

McEwen is an educator and has worked at many institutions including UNSWADA, The National Art School and Campbelltown Arts Centre.