Helen Morgan

Helen Morgan is an emerging artist from Sydney, Australia, working in the fields of printmaking, photography and installation. Her work explores our relationship with the overlooked objects that populate our lives, informed by Morgan’s upbringing in a century-old family home in south-western Sydney and her Egyptian-Australian heritage.

Morgan holds a Diploma, Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Fine Arts. In 2018, she was the recipient of two major awards from the National Art School, Sydney: The Jenour Foundation MFA Scholarship and the Mark Henry Cain Memorial Travel Scholarship. She has completed residencies in Europe and exhibited at regional and artist-run galleries in NSW. During 2022, Helen will be an artist in residence at Gallery Lane Cove Creative Studios.

W2 | Possible Shelter 2, 2022, tarpaulin with unique state aquatint on gampi, kozo and tengujo paper, dimensions variable.

The house that I grew up in is a suburban home which, over the course of almost a century, was transformed through use and adaptation, improvised repairs and self-built extensions, coming to be a unique and idiosyncratic structure. This series of work focuses on the colours and textures of that environment, in particular the aesthetic qualities of its utilitarian materials, including tarpaulins and shade-cloths, which were used to create sheltered areas in the house and backyard.

I have sought to express a sense of value and beauty in these materials by translating my perceptions of them through the slow and indirect printmaking process, into abstract prints on handmade Japanese paper. Presented alongside materials and objects taken from the house, these works celebrate the variety of colour, form and materiality in that space.