Katherine Hattam is an established Australian artist who attended the University of Melbourne and the Victorian College of the Arts where she studied painting. Hattam’s work encompasses themes of feminism, domesticity, time, autobiography and psychology. Doctor’s Dilemma, Mark II, 2007 is a strong representation of Hattam’s interest in landscape painting, collage, literature, feminism, psycho-analysis and post-modern critical thinking. Featuring disassembled medical and psychology books removed from her family’s library and other sources, floating medical instruments and interior domestic elements, the title of this work refers to an early twentieth century play by Bernard Shaw of the same name. It centres on the moral dilemma a doctor faces when triaging who receives life-saving medicine and the economic realities of a medical life. In this way, Doctor’s Dilemma, Mark II can be viewed as an autobiographical account of growing up as the daughter of a doctor who eventually left the medical world in pursuit of the art world. Hattam has strong ties with Stonnington, having grown up in South Yarra and attended school in Toorak. Hattam’s son, William McKinnon, is also an artist and is represented in the Stonnington Art Collection. stonnington contemporary art collection, mixed media, feminism, domesticity, autobiography, psychology, collage, literature, landscape, painting, post-modern, katherine hattam

Katherine Hattam’s exuberant work, Powerlines Merri Creek equalises the natural environment with man-made constructions as she explores the hybrid landscape of local waterways and their locations. Hattam’s art practice comprises drawing, collage, printmaking and sculpture. She employs a contemplative process in revealing the relationships and tensions between objects, space and placement.Hattam has exhibited widely as a solo artist as well as in group shows for over five decades. She has won the Robert Jacks Drawing Prize (2006), Banyule Works on Paper Art Award (2005) and has been short-listed in the Dobell Drawing Prize, the National Works on Paper Prize and the Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize. Her work is represented in public, corporate, educational and private collections such as the National Gallery of Australia, state and regional art galleries, The Darling Foundation, Smorgen Collection, Artbank, Queen Victoria Hospital, National Australia Bank and La Trobe University Museum of Art.Painting

In 'Bridge Merri Creek', Katherine Hattam continues her exploration of local waterways and their locations. This work on plywood depicts the bridge over Merri Creek on High Street, Northcote with accompanying trees and powerlines and the much-ignored cyclists dismount sign. It is surrounded by a repertoire of recurring domestic motifs significant to the artist including chairs, clocks and a shopping basket, creating a psychological layering of memory via personally symbolic objects. Artist bio Hattam has exhibited widely as a solo artist as well as in group shows for over five decades. She has won the Robert Jacks Drawing Prize (2006), Banyule Works on Paper Art Award (2005) and has been short-listed in the Dobell Drawing Prize, the National Works on Paper Prize and the Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize. Her work is represented in public, corporate, educational and private collections such as the National Gallery of Australia, state and regional art galleries, The Darling Foundation, Smorgen Collection, Artbank, Queen Victoria Hospital, National Australia Bank and La Trobe University Museum of Art.