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Defying patriarchal structures: Why an Australian artist disguised her name

An unconventional portrait by a female Australian artist has reignited conversation around gender politics in the art world.

9 Sep 2025 13:05

Jo Pickup

Miriam Stannage: an old looking coloured photograph of a woman at a kitchen holding a printed work on paper she has created.

Visual Arts

Tom Gibbons, ‘Miriam Stannage’, 1984, photocopy, ink and acrylic, 1/5, 48.6 x 57.6 cm The University of Western Australia Art Collection, McGillivray Bequest Fund, 1998.

Among the works chosen for Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery’s recent Lines in the Sand: Women from the West exhibition, there is one that stands out for its bold, abstract energies which simply are impossible to ignore.

Titled Fingerprint – scar from glass (2004) this large acrylic on canvas work is by the late Western Australian artist Miriam Stannage.

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Jo Pickup

ArtsHub's Arts Feature Writer Jo Pickup is based in Perth. An arts writer and manager, she has worked as a journalist and broadcaster for media such as the ABC, RTRFM and The West Australian newspaper, contributing media content and commentary on art, culture and design. She has also worked for arts organisations such as Fremantle Arts Centre, STRUT dance, and the Aboriginal Arts Centre Hub of WA, as well as being a sessional arts lecturer at The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA).