At the heart of Patricia Piccinini's artworks is the idea of connection.
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The artist behind works such as Skywhale and Skywhalepapa, tends to explore relationships within her work, in particular relationships with nature.
Pieces such as Cleaner, which is inspired by the leatherback turtle that's a vulnerable species due to pollution, aims to get people to sympathise with the animal. Other works, such as The Rescuers, which was inspired by a woman who ran into a burning forest and rescued a koala, is more literal in humans' relationship with nature.
Aside from depicting connections with nature, Piccinini says the role of art as a whole is to connect people.
"Art can create opportunities for people to come together to do purposeful things that are often with other people. And then that helps construct how meaning is created in society," she says.
"Something like the Skywhale performance, there are thousands of people that come together, and they experience the same thing. And they get up and it's almost like a ritual, where you get up in the very early morning, and you experience this often life-affirming thing."
It's Piccinini's own experience with connection, and the adverse of it, loneliness, is what sees the Canberran featured in the podcast We Are Lonely.
Following research done by Medibank that revealed more than half of Australians surveyed (53 per cent) feel lonely on one or more days during a typical week, the podcast aims to explore the theme of loneliness and drive positive conversations around mental health and wellbeing.
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Hosted by Myf Warhurst and Frederic Kiernan, the podcast series features in-depth interviews with Australian artists, actors and entertainers including actor Hugo Weaving, singer Darren Hayes, Yorta Yorta rapper Briggs, and of course, Piccinini.
The podcast sees Piccinini talk not just about how connection features heavily in her work, but her own experience with loneliness.
In particular, the artist discusses how it was as a child after her family moved to Australia from Italy in the 1970s. While Piccinini says she doesn't blame her parents for this particularly lonely time, the struggles that come with relocating countries left her disconnected.
It's an experience she says other new Australians can relate to.
"New Australians come here and have no roots, we have no language, we don't understand the culture. It takes a generation to feel at home really," she says.
"For young kids, often their parents are struggling and they feel alone in this because their parents are overwhelmed and have so much to struggle with, like finding a house and a job, and learning the language and understanding where to get food.
"So I felt lonely when I was young ... which has made me a fairly anxious person I imagine, but one of the ways it's affected my adult life in practice is that as an artist, I try and situate myself inside a community, talking to others in my community about important ideas."
We Are Lonely is available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
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