Coloured print featuring working drawings of skywhales

Patricia Piccinini, The skywhale suite, 2020, proposed gift of the artist, produced through the Australian Print Workshop’s Artist Fellowship Program © Patricia Piccinini

Exhibition

Patricia Piccinini: Skywhales

Learning Gallery

7 Mar 2020 – 31 May 2021

  • National Gallery of Australia
Free

This exhibition in the Tim Fairfax Learning Gallery presents the development of Patricia Piccinini’s hot-air balloon skywhale family – Skywhale and Skywhalepapa ­– through studio drawings, 3D models and an interview with the artist.

The skywhale family look like large friendly whales. They float in the sky rather than the sea. Skywhalepapa holds multiple babies in his claws. For the artist this reflects the changing role of male caregivers and celebrates a father’s capacity to love and support. Together, Skywhale and Skywhalepapa describe different ways of thinking about family and gender roles.

Tim Fairfax Learning Gallery and Studio and associated programs are made possible through the generous support of Education Patron, Tim Fairfax AC. Skywhales: every heart sings is a Balnaves Contemporary Series project. Skywhalepapa has been commissioned with the assistance of The Balnaves Foundation

Curators: Jaklyn Babington and Sarina Noordhuis-Fairfax

Go to the Skywhales Learning Resource for primary students.

See Skywhales: Every heart sings to learn more.

“Skywhalepapa is a massive, ten-storey high father but he is not threatening. Instead his strength is comforting. One of things that I love about Skywhalepapa is that it is a sculpture, but it is also a performance—an event. I imagine visitors assembling to watch these giant figures come to life. As the dawn breaks, they see Skywhalepapa and Skywhale take shape and ascend into the air together, connected by a bond of care. It is a simple story, but a beautiful and uplifting one. With a single skywhale figure we have a character, but with the two we have a relationship and a narrative”
— Patricia Piccinini

Supported by

National Touring Partner

Patricia Piccinini appears in