Sophia Hewson

In her performance piece Viewer as patient, artist and psychoanalysis student Sophia Hewson examines the relationship between the viewer (in this case the patient undergoing therapy), the artist (the therapist) and the work of art (the therapy session). The painting Family portrait hangs between the chairs as a lone witness to the sessions. The performance creates a space in which a complex and intimate socio-political Australian landscape emerges.

As an artist, Hewson works across performance, installation, painting and sculpture. She is currently undertaking theoretical and clinical studies in psychoanalysis at the Australian Centre for Psychoanalysis in Melbourne. She has completed intensive training in narrative therapy at the University of Melbourne and also works as a support worker at a women’s refuge.