Meagan Pelham
"Hi my name is Meagan Ann Pelham and I’m an artist. I love being an artist. You’ll never stop me. I want to meet new people, fashion people, disability people. Make more paintings. With love... I’m always going to be an artist, artist is in my future. I’ll never give up! I love being an artist."
Meagan Pelham is the ultimate romantic, someone who creates and lives by a philosophy of true love. The imagery in her artworks invites audiences to see the world through rose-coloured glasses and to embrace moments of beauty that surround us.
Meagan is a multidisciplinary artist practising painting, poetry, drawing and performance. She was selected as a finalist for the 2022 Archibald Prize with her watercolour portrait Romance is LOVE, depicting friend and collaborator Anna Plunkett of Australian fashion label Romance was Born.
Meagan uses delicate line work to depict emblems of devotion and delight, including wedding cakes, red roses and love-heart-shaped cocktail glasses. Her favourite subjects are her signature ‘love owls’, which she draws in pairs to signify how they are the most romantic of animals.
Her handwritten poetry practice is expressive and intimate, a prophecy of beautiful things and moments manifested on paper. Her verses recount spellbinding reveries of dinner dates, romantic getaways and dancing with a loved one. Meagan's love poetry was featured at Cementa Festival 2022, printed onto multiple holographic perspex surfaces.
Meagan is a captivating performance artist, presenting live works at the Biennale of Sydney, the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and the North Sydney Children’s Festival. In 2017, in an unforgettable performance, she inhabited the Owl Bride in birdfoxmonster, a sold-out production at Carriageworks, in collaboration with Erth Visual & Physical Inc.
Meagan has a long-sustained creative partnership with the designers at Romance was Born, who have created multiple collections of couture gowns and ready-to-wear garments featuring her artwork and poetry. In 2021, Meagan performed in the production Dr of Love, as part of Romance was Born’s curated program for Powerhouse Late.
Meagan has exhibited work at Maitland Art Gallery, Spilt Milk, Sydney Contemporary, NSW Parliament and Sub Base Platypus North Sydney. In 2020, she was a key artist on Love owls and mermaids singing in the rainbow pop, a monumental mural at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and in 2022, she was awarded the Liberty Specialty Markets art award, funding a year-long fashion focused mentorship with Tanja Bruckner.
- Words by Anna McKey, portrait by Scott Heldorf
Artist CV
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