Rona Green’s principal interest as an artist is the nature of individuality and expression of identity. Within her hand-coloured linocuts, paintings, sculpture and ceramics she utilises her love of animals to explore how the body can be used as a vehicle for story by means of transformative devices, especially anthropomorphism and body modification. Rona transforms familiar domestic pets into tattoo-covered thugs and punks reflecting underground street culture, her animal subjects taking on very human characteristics and attitudes. Her rough and ready animals express a range of emotions and are full of personality. Some are provocative and menacing with their challenging stares, while others have jaded or apprehensive facial expressions revealing a comical helplessness. While her works are simply rendered, her imagery has many layers and lends itself to reflection on the social issues of identity formation, including gender and class politics. Rona’s animals are visual archetypes of social outcasts and demonstrate the ability of tattoos to visually record a person’s history or identity.
Rona Green has been exhibiting since 1994 and has received numerous prizes, including acquisitive awards at galleries in Geelong, Fremantle, and Swan Hill and, in 2006, the Silk Cut Award. Rona was engaged in teaching positions from 2000 to 2017, and has travelled to Singapore, Borneo, Brunei, the Netherlands, Romania, and most recently to Japan. Her prints are held in numerous collections including the National Gallery of Australia, Artbank, Art Gallery of South Australia, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Silk Cut Foundation, Chiang Mai Contemporary Art Museum (Thailand), Chicago Printmaking Collective (USA), London Print Studios (UK) and University of Colorado (USA).
