Art in the library presents different views of the body

Monash staff and students who frequent the recently refurbished CL Butchers Pharmacy Library may be curious about the stories which lie behind the artworks installed there.

“How might art connect to the contemporary research and practice of pharmacy?” Geraldine Barlow, Curator/Collection Manager at the Monash University Museum of Art, asked when considering the selection of works for the library. “These artworks offer different views of the human body – they include the social, the cellular and the humorous,” she explains.

Prominently displayed in the group study area are Donna Bailey’s large photographic portraits of her daughter Zoe, Generation Y girl and Mulberry lips 2003. “These photographs are portraits of one person, but might also be seen as portraits of a generation determined to be responsible for how they are portrayed and to play an active role in choices relating to their own bodies,” says Geraldine.

 “The works by Jane Trengove, Square cushion and Round cushion 1993, lift details from our daily lives out of their usual context. The bright forms of the cushions are like luscious pills and the buttons at the centre of each cushion suggest the soft form of the body they are made to receive,” says Geraldine.

A prominent work in the library is John Young’s Junior (stoppage #7) 1989. Geraldine explains: “This painting has the strong graphic presence of a sign, but its meaning is ambiguous. It could represent an unspecified substance in the bloodstream or an alternative to the internationally recognised red cross.”

A total of eleven artworks from the Monash University Collection are on display at the Pharmacy Library, all by highly regarded contemporary artists from Australia.

Cathrine Harboe-Ree, Monash University Librarian, says: “We are delighted to have these artworks displayed in the library. In a real way they change the way users view the library – a place that is alive and vibrant and thoughtfully encourages creative learning and enthusiastic endeavour.”

The Monash University Collection currently comprises about 1,500 artworks many of which are displayed on the various Monash campuses.

24 November 2008

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The refurbished Pharmacy Library, showing Donna Bailey's photographic artwork.