Lillian O’Neil makes collages about the human condition, using found imagery from pre‐digital books and magazines to short-circuit visual information, with bodies taking on peculiar hybrid characteristics, surfaces merging with print textures, and the junctures between body, architecture, day, night, earth and sky all disintegrating. —José Da Silva
Lillian O’Neil (b. 1985, Naarm/Melbourne, l. Wadawarrung/Torquay) was awarded the 2021 Bowness Photography Prize at Monash Gallery of Art. O'Neil completed a Master of Fine Art at Sydney College of the Arts, The University of Sydney in 2012. In 2020, she commenced a Doctor of Philosophy at RMIT, Melbourne.
Key exhibitions
- Lillian O'Neil: The light that spills across the ground between shadows, curated by José Da Silva, UNSW Galleries, Sydney, 2024
- Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Inner Sanctum, curated by José Da Silva, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 2024
- Unpopular, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, 2022
- PHOTO 2021 International Festival of Photography: The Truth, Melbourne
- The Body Electric, curated by Shaune Lakin at the National Gallery of Australia, 2020
- In the Cut – collage as idea, curated by Hannah Matthews, at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, 2013
Key readings
- Neha Kale, 'Lillian O'Neil and the shared female unconsciousness', The Saturday Paper, 10 — 16 August, 2024
- José Da Silva, Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Inner Sanctum, exh. cat. Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 2024
- Louise Martin-Chew, 'Micro Macro: Lillian O'Neil', Vault, no. 25, February — April 2019, pp. 31 — 34
Collections
Anne and Gordon Samstag Museum of Art
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Art Gallery of South Australia
Artbank
Sir Elton John Collection
Monash Gallery of Art/Museum of Australian Photography
National Gallery of Australia