Subject matter

With global vision, George Gittoes has set up mobile studios for three decades, creating works in regions of conflict and upheaval around the world. He has worked in North America, Central America, Europe, the Middle East, the Sub Continent, Far East, Asia Pacific and Africa, creating works in both traditional and digital mediums, still and moving images, within a matrix of cultural interfaces.

“Why do I do it? As far as choosing the roads I have travelled, I have this instinct that if I get comfortable, the work will lose its ‘sting’, so I go out of the comfort zones and into the wilderness to find my art. In the past it was the natural world where predators fed on gentler creatures. In the contemporary context, I go alone into a different kind of human wilderness – Rwanda, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq – not to contemplate nature, but the basics of humanity...”

Gittoes is currently making films in Afghanistan, painting and drawing and creating his opus multi media work, Night Vision, while continuing to move around the globe.
A comprehensive public solo exhibition of his work has been curated by James Harithas, for the Station Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston, Texas, opening April 17, 2011.

George Gittoes has travelled to many places for his art, including: Nicaragua, the Philippines, Somalia, Sinai, Southern Lebanon, Israel, Gaza, Western Sahara, Cambodia, Laos, Mozambique, South Africa, Congo, Rwanda, Yemen, Bosnia, Northern Ireland, Russia, Europe, UK, Bougainville, Philippines, China, Taiwan, Tibet, Timor, Pakistan and Afghanistan - often in the worst of times when those countries were experiencing conflict and social upheaval. He uses these experiences extensively in his art.
Born: Sydney, Australia. 1949. Official website: www.gittoes.com

Honours

Gittoes' service to Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 has been recognised by the award of Member of the Order of Australia (1997) "for service to art and international relations as an artist and photographer portraying the effects on the environment of war, international disasters and heavy industry".
He was also awarded the Centenary Medal

Centenary Medal

The Centenary Medal is an award created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the Centenary of Federation of Australia and to honour people who have made a contribution to Australian society or government...

(2001) "for service as an internationally renowned artist".

External links

• Gittoes' website
• The Miscreants - Film Review and Video Trailer
• NZ Herald interview with Gittoes
• Lifelounge magazine interview with Gittoes
• http://www.artequity.com.au/newsletter/Media/2007%20Articles/October%2007/Gittoes_MakeTeanotwar_SMH251007.htm
• A short video interview with George Gittoes
• Teacher's Notes on George Gittoes
• Pacifica Radio interview with George Gittoes on Art, Media and War