"“Between Breath and Being: Bound by Waiting and Work”" Painting

Lorraine Simiana is a Sydney-based contemporary artist whose practice examines the psychological and social constraints placed on women. Working primarily in oil on linen, her large-scale paintings depict figures entangled in webs, suspended like marionettes, or isolated within stark, ambiguous spaces. Her work explores themes of control, vulnerability, and emotional confinement, drawing attention to the often unseen weight of expectation, silence, and power imbalance. Through restrained colour palettes and deliberately minimal compositions, Simiana creates a sense of tension between presence and absence, forcing the viewer to confront both the figure and the space surrounding them. Rather than offering resolution, her paintings sit in discomfort. Eyes emerge from emptiness, bodies are partially obscured, and narratives remain deliberately unresolved, reflecting the ongoing and complex nature of inequality and lived experience. Simiana holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts and is currently expanding her practice through further research. She has exhibited in group exhibitions and curated collaborative projects, bringing both an artistic and organisational perspective to her work. Her practice continues to evolve through a focus on material, scale, and conceptual clarity, with a commitment to creating work that is both visually restrained and psychologically direct.