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Carla Wherby
Carla Wherby holds a Bachelor of Visual Arts from the City Art Institute (1983) now the College of Fine Arts, UNSW.
Art is Wherby's strongest passion and she is constantly searching for inspiration in art books and magazines. While she believes in learning from other artists' techniques, she is prolific in her output, and is always attempting to refine her own style.
Music and popular culture, are key themes in her work. While she wants her work to be enjoyable for the viewer, Wherby also wants to use it to convey a message. Her intricate biro drawings of African American entertainers, for example, aim to both celebrate the talent of the entertainers, and to draw attention to the discrimination that they have faced.
Living in the multicultural Sydney suburb of Auburn, an area with a large population of refugees, Wherby is highly conscious of the hardships that others have endured. This awareness of and sensitivity to injustice is a strong motivator for her practice. In 2008, Wherby won first prize in the Auburn Mayoral Art Prize.
Written by Lia Unthank, Creative Committee, AART.BOXX 09.
