Artoble Podcast: Between Worlds: The Vision of Rina Franz

Listen to Lyn DiCiero in conversation with Rina Franz, whose exhibition Between Worlds: The Vision of Rina Franz is on show at the City of Perth’s Council House Gallery until 31 October 2025. Born in Rome, she initially studied architecture and art history before migrating to Western Australia and studying art at Edith Cowan and Curtin University. She went on to teach students herself at Curtin University, Edith Cowan University and the University of WA, and spent 34 years lecturing at TAFE until last year. Her years teaching has matched an intensive art practice, exploring space, distance, time, memory and the contrast of living between two cultures. She’s exhibited around Australia and internationally during her lengthy career, winning numerous awards along the way, and is represented in major public art collections both in Australia and overseas. 

In this podcast, Rina discusses her life and influences and, battling recent ill health, reflects on a lifetime of art. In particular two works are discussed –  an earlier work from the 1990s and her most recent exhibited work: 

1994: PICA Boans installation, held inside two disused cool rooms. Amidst the lingering smell of its former life as storage for meat goods, the work created the illusion of infinite space using both physical pillars and drawn perspective, creating a disorientating experience within the small confines of the space.

2024: The Invisible Thread, 170 blue and white linen collars, approximately 4m x 4m 4m, suspended from the ceiling of Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery recalls the lives of seamstresses like her mother, with the names of clients, found in her mother’s workbooks following her death, embroidered to each one. The works also refers to the post war social divide of blue and white collar workers, with seamstresses quietly connecting both ends of the spectrum.

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