In this lecture, University of Melbourne senior lecturer Dr Danny Butt focuses on Sam Jinks’ much-loved Woman and Child to prompt a discussion on life, death and gender politics.

How do women bear responsibility for cultural meaning? In a world where “lived experience” is increasingly understood to underpin authentic representation, what can we learn from how Jinks as a male artist stages both woman and child? What does the work’s detailed focus on individual bodies illuminate about Western culture’s philosophy of life and death? Such questions help unfold the complex dynamics animating the sculpture and its continuing power to move audiences.

Dr Danny Butt is Senior Lecturer in Interdisciplinary Practice and Co-ordinator of Research in Design and Production at Victorian College of the Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, University of Melbourne.

About SAM Deep Dives:

SAM Deep Dives is a series of talks presented at Shepparton Art Museum in partnership with University of Melbourne. The lectures, led by University of Melbourne academics and researchers, delve into the themes and ideas of current SAM collection exhibition Dance Me to the End of Love to investigate death, technology, poetry and society in three unique conversations prompted by featured artworks.