User:Helen Bodycomb

This glass smalti and marble mosaic diptych across 2 car windscreens features the image of a young roadkill kangaroo, cradled in the hands of the veterinary surgeon who removed it from its mother’s pouch and tried to save it (a common occurrence following a roadkill accident). Evoking Michelangelo’s Pieta in which the Virgin Mary cradles the dead body of her adult son Jesus Christ, and invoking pity and compassion, the tragic death of the infant kangaroo potentially mirrors our own demise.

Helen Bodycomb (born 1964) is a contemporary Australian artist whose preferred medium is mosaic. Having initially trained as painter (Victoria College, Prahran) under such luminaries as Aleks Danko and Howard Arkley, Helen now practices predominantly in stone and glass (mosaic) and sculpture. Following further fine art studies (Monash University) and at the Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli under the tutelage of Maestro Giulio Candussio, Helen now lives and works in Central Victoria, Australia, where she is also currently a Graduate Researcher with La Trobe University (Bendigo Campus). Helen conducts a well established commission-based practice, making bespoke artworks for public and private clients, whilst also exploring increasingly experimental approaches to mosaic as a method, if not as media. Helen's current research is titled 'The Material and the Immaterial' and is an exploration of the application of classical mosaic methods in contemporary work, with a special interest in the genre of memento mori (remember you are going to die).