Arts / Earth

SHAPESHIFTING Helen Wright

My imagery does not shirk from the reality of habitat destruction and its impact on bird, marine and animal species touching upon a gap that I perceive between our idealised visions of nature and actual experience.

Helen Wright
An oil painting featuring the stump of an old tree that has been felled set against a bright sky blue background. Two trees, one green and one brown, are sprouting from the dead wood of the stump.

About the project

shapeshifter, n.
one that seems able to change form or identity at will, occupying an ambiguous place

SHAPESHIFTING : Helen Wright is a celebration of the remarkable practice of Tasmanian artist Helen Wright. Born in Gadigal / Sydney in 1956, Helen studied at the Tasmanian School of Art (1977–1979) and gained a Bachelor of Fine Arts. She completed a Post Graduate Diploma of Visual Arts at the Alexander Mackie School, Gadigal / Sydney, before returning to Tasmania to become a founding member of the Chameleon Studios and Contemporary Art Space. In 1991, with support from the Australia Council, she was artist-in-residence at the Barcelona Studio, Spain. Helen was part-time lecturer in printmaking at the University of Tasmania between 1991–1999 and has since completed both a Master of Fine Arts and a PhD at the School of Creative Arts, University of Tasmania, Nipaluna / Hobart.

Over the more than four decades of her practice, Helen’s work has shifted, seemingly at ease, between intricately rendered drawings in pastel, charcoal, graphite and coloured pencil, to lithographs and woodcut prints, pearlescent watercolour and oil paintings, through to cast sculptures in resin, bronze and concrete. All reflect an uneasy tension and ambiguity between natural and human-made environments. As curator Kellie Wells has stated: ‘Wright’s art does not offer solutions — it offers space: to feel, to reflect and to imagine all that could be otherwise.’

Wright’s work is included in numerous public and private collections including the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery and the Art Gallery of South Australia.

A black and white portrait of artist Helen Wright sitting in a chair in her studio. She is patting her small white-faced rescue dog Mr Dexter. An imposingly large wheel of a lithograph press is visible in the foreground.

Exhibition

The release of SHAPESHIFTING : Helen Wright coincides with a major exhibition of Helen Wright’s work at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, Lutruwita / Tasmania from 23 August – 30 November 2025 curated by Dr Kellie Wells.

Kellie states: ‘Helen Wright’s contribution to Tasmanian and Australian art is both profound and enduring. She reminds us that to shapeshift is not only to change form, but to remain open — to uncertainty, and to beauty in all its forms. Her practice, grounded in courage and care, stands as a testament to what art can be: a vessel for transformation, a site of resistance, and a language through which we might come to understand the world, and ourselves, anew.’

An image of a large pastel drawing of a strangely beautiful red and orange imaginary flower with pointy segmented petals.

Publication

Our imprint ‘An Artist’s Own Book’ was specially established to support high quality publications that are often beyond the reach of many artists. Designed by Warner Design/Lynda Warner/Tracey Diggins, this bespoke short-run publication is hard case bound with 116 pages printed full colour throughout and is published by OUTSIDE THE BOX / Earth Arts Rights in support of Helen Wright’s art practice.

The publication organises work into three distinct themes. In both the Foreword and Afterword, the exhibition curator Kellie Wells and the artist Helen Wright observe: Silence and Beauty considers stillness not as absence, but as fullness and presence… The work opens a door into the emotional, feminine territory of energy, contained / smothered but engaged in a powerful struggle for fresh air and self-defining freedom. Order and Collapse addresses the ever-present tension between control and entropy… The work engages with a political and material world in chaos encompassing the disarray of a ‘freefall’. Sound, Fragility and Survival explores what it means to persist or endure — to sing, listen, and create amid vulnerability and loss… The work looks outward with hope, engaging with this beguiling wonderworld with delight and amazement.

A black ink woodcut print on tan coloured paper featuring a montage of natural and human-made structures woven into an imaginary architectural stack of rubble. Five tiny cyclists are riding up and down the impossibly steep sides of the rubble.

Pre-Order
SHAPESHIFTING

Pre-orders for SHAPESHIFTING : Helen Wright are now open with delivery scheduled for late August 2025. Don’t miss out. Secure a copy now.

Pre-Order

An image of the pink front and back covers of a book featuring a silhouette of a tower of animals and a montage of natural and human-made structures woven into an imaginary architectural stack of rubble that resembles two large rocks balancing precariously on top on one another.
Images: Portrait of Helen Wright by Peter Whyte. Artwork images: Jack Bett and Simon Olding.