Moonglow
The Mineral Violet Triad · 14 of 14
First Openly Gay Woman and First Female Asian-Australian Elected to Federal Parliament · 2002–present
Her achievement
Penny Wong became Australia’s first female Asian-Australian cabinet minister in 2007, overseeing key portfolios including Climate Change, Finance and Foreign Affairs.
She is widely recognised for leadership in national policy and for promoting diversity and inclusion in Australian politics. Her career has meant navigating multiple layers of identity within highly traditional institutions.
The materiality
Moonglow displays its signature multi-pigment separation with intensity.
The structural shadows of her hair, eyes and suit jacket hold a deep, unified violet-black; the paint deconstructs when pushed into the background. In the blooms to upper right and left, individual pigments untether: cool electric blues and moody violets separate from a soft wash of warm pinkish-red, catching on the raised ridges of the tissue.
Moonglow is made of diverse, contrasting elements that refuse to blend into uniformity, yet together they create a powerful whole. Intense dark violet for disciplined parliamentary composure; fractured colour bursts for the breaking of rigid institutional sameness.
Macro detail
Look closely
In the hair, eyes and jacket the pigment holds as a commanding violet-black. In the blooms, cool electric blues and deep violets untether from a floating wash of warm pinkish-red on the raised paper. What happens to the pigment where the tissue paper rises?