For more on this artwork and other works featured in the exhibition, see the Exhibition Catalogue at: http://www.grag.com.au/userfiles/file/4569%20GW%20BOT%20-%20Catalogue_v12.pdf
]]>This linocut print, Mother and Child (1985), by artist G. W. Bot depicts a Madonna and child scene in which the frame is occupied almost exclusively by a Virgin Mary figure holding a child. Although held by a private collector, the piece was exhibited in a number of regional Australian art galleries between 2010 and 2013 as part of a touring exhibition of G. W. Bot’s work – The Long Paddock: A 30 Year Survey – developed by the Goulburn Regional Art Gallery and curated by Peter Haynes. Bot’s inspiration for this work derives from the status of the Madonna and Child as a powerful Christian icon, especially in medieval religious art. During an interview conducted for the educational resource kit accompanying the exhibition, G. W Bot acknowledged this medieval influence: ‘I’ve also found inspiration in the medieval icon painters – I’ve always been fascinated by the question of how to encode spirituality in the visual arts’ (see: http://www.grag.com.au/userfiles/file/GW%20BOT%20Education%20Kit.pdf).
For more on this artwork and other works featured in the exhibition, see the Exhibition Catalogue at: http://www.grag.com.au/userfiles/file/4569%20GW%20BOT%20-%20Catalogue_v12.pdf
To view this image,
1. go to: http://www.artgallery.sa.gov.au/agsa/home/Collection/CollectionSearch.jsp
2. search by artist or title.To view this image,
1. go to: http://www.artgallery.sa.gov.au/agsa/home/Collection/CollectionSearch.jsp
2. search by artist or title.A photograph of members of the WA Portuguese Community congregated outside St Patrick's Basilica in Fremantle during the 'Blessing of the Fleet' celebrations in 1979. The Blessing of the Fleet takes place in Fremantle, Western Australia, on the second last Sunday in October. It was first held in 1948 and incorporates a procession in which two Madonna statues are carried from the Basilica to Fishing Boat Harbour. The event relates to one held in the port of Molfetta in Italy, which traditionally dates back to the twelfth century when crusaders returning from Palestine brought paintings of the Madonna to the port. Immigrant fishermen from Molfetta brought the tradition to Fremantle and in 1954 a second Madonna statue was added to the procession by immigrants from the Sicilian port of Capo d'Orlando.