Suzie Speirs - 'Art is my language'

Wednesday 1 - Saturday 18 March 2023

Suzie Speirs 1949 – 2021

Suzie Spier’s first exhibition was in 1978 and which was followed by another 16 exhibitions in various Australian galleries. Her last was in 2013, entitled Life and Life. 

This latest collection of work featured in Art is my language came to light following her death in March 2021 after a long illness. It was known that she was immersed in painting, privately, often assuring those around her this is my work, this is what I do. She had been working on more than 120 paintings, all wood panels, each approximately 90 x 30 cm. It is here in this exhibition that we see them as they should be seen, in totality. Her last story told.  

Suzie was sustained throughout her adult life by packing a small bag whenever she could and heading for India where she would lead a very simple village life with her friends there. She would spend a few months journeying to numerous ashrams, places of pilgrimage and religious festivals. As she immersed herself in this life, including working directly with the Dalai Lama, she shaped a perspective that influenced her poetry and paintings. Her passions for social justice and environmental activism, underpinned by her spiritual foundation, are only too evident in the work exhibited, her final commentary.