Linda Brescia
Through projects that centre women’s experiences, Linda Brescia’s practice inquires into the dynamics of visibility and invisibility, masking, care and self-assertion.
Linda Brescia is a Western Sydney-based artist who investigates the banalities and complexities of everyday life experiences and rituals through painting, photography, sculpture and performance. Her practice explores dynamics around visibility and invisibility, masking, care and self-assertion.
Major projects include Linda Brescia: Holding up the Sky (2018–2019), a solo exhibition at Fairfield City Museum & Gallery, A Girl Like You (2022), a survey exhibition of recent and newly commissioned works at Penrith Regional Gallery and Skirts (2021-2022), a collaboration with women from Kingswood, produced and presented on behalf of the Museum of Contemporary Art in partnership with Penrith City Council. Involving a collaborative manifesto, artworks and activations in the public spaces of Kingswood, Skirts rebelled against gendered expectations, ageism, violence against women, and the obstacles in the way of community wellbeing.
Linda has had a long history of facilitating workshops and community projects for numerous organisations and groups, including No Boundaries Art Group, based in Penrith, which works with people with special needs. She participated as an artist mentor in Momentum (2015), a unique engagement project between the Art Gallery of New South Wales and Sunnyfield disability services, which saw twelve emerging artists from Western Sydney living with disability respond to works in the gallery.
Linda’s work has been presented in exhibitions and programs for Artspace, Sydney; Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre; Penrith Regional Gallery; Cementa; SafARI 2014; King Street Gallery, Sydney; and MOP, Sydney. She is completing a 2021-2023 artist residency with Parramatta Artists' Studios in Rydalmere, and in 2020 Brescia was awarded the Blacktown City Art Prize for her portrait of American patron of the arts Peggy Guggenheim. Her work is held in the collections of Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Penrith Regional Gallery, Artcell Collection Management, Blacktown City Council and private collectors.
In this video, Linda chats with NAVA about her career trajectory, recent projects, and the importance of persistence as an artist.
Video production by Playground / ArtVid 2022.
Photo by Jacquie Manning.
ID: Photo of Linda Brescia standing in her studio. She has dark, shoulder-length hair, and is wearing earrings, a black dress and an apron marked with paint. On the tables beside Brescia are colourful tubs of paint, bundles of paint brushes, and bottles of turpentine. Behind her are various small-to-medium portraits of women on canvases, some of which are mounted on hanging textiles.
