Mary Pridmore knew time was running out, telling the ABC her final art exhibition in mid-October would be a showcase of her life's work and its exploration of feminist themes. Sadly, her death last week means she will not be there to see it.
Pridmore died last Friday, a little over two years after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND).
"Just before the pandemic, I found I could no longer keep up when walking with my husband," she told the ABC, weeks out from what she knew would be her final exhibition.
Over her shoulder, like a guardian protecting her, was a large self-portrait of a younger Pridmore — the centrepiece of her final show, to be held at Hadley's Hotel in October.
The retrospective will prominently feature self-portraits Pridmore painted over the past two decades since graduating from Arts School at the University of Tasmania (UTAS).
"The self-portraits — all conceived pre-selfie culture — are about feminism and maternal history," she said.
"They are about reversing the male gaze, dressing up [and the] ways women have negotiated female power within patriarchal culture".
Pridmore came to painting quite late in life.
She worked as a teacher and within the Tasmanian Education Department until the early nineties, the same time as her son Will was born — pivotal in her picking up the paintbrush.
"I wanted to be able to draw a little with my son and started lessons … and the passion for painting exploded from there."
In 1998, she enrolled at UTAS to start her second degree, this time in Fine Arts.
Dear friend and Tasmanian author Jennifer Livett coincidentally was also studying at the UTAS school of fine arts at that time.
Both had met in first-year English in 1972, as Livett fondly recalled.
"We were both wrapped up in second-wave feminism, reading Jane Eyre, To The Lighthouse and The Female Eunuch … and we were just so excited about all those tropes," she said.
It is little surprise Livett's debut novel, Wild Island, published in 2016 and set in Tasmania, is a reimagining of Jane Eyre ending up in Van Diemen's Land.
Livett said Pridmore's works conveyed "the sense of enormous upheaval women have been through since the 1950s to the present day".
"Both our mothers, so very different, were 1950s women, very much … we saw the damage inflicted on them by those roles," she said.
"It [Mary's art] represents the struggle of women since the 1950s to come to grips with what feminism meant and to move forward without losing their own maternal roles".
Livett said she was "absolutely devastated to hear the news" of Pridmore's death.
She said they had communicated every day via text and the day before Pridmore died was the first time since Christmas that she had not heard from her.
"It's so sad that she won't make it to her opening [of the show]. She was so excited for it".
To trace Mary Pridmore's maternal lineage is to understand the indelible influence women have had on her life and art.
Pridmore's grandparents were Joseph Lyons — Tasmania's only prime minister — and Dame Enid Lyons, Australia's first female member of the House of Representatives, first woman in a federal cabinet, radio broadcaster and newspaper columnist.
The stool Pridmore sits upon in the large self-portrait was the one her grandmother knelt on at Queen Elizabeth's 1953 coronation at Westminster Abbey.
"She [Lyons] represented an ideal of womanhood in the period from the 1930s to 50s … the tradition of the strong supportive wife to public man, but who gradually becomes more prominent in their own right," Pridmore said.
The daughter of Dame Enid and Joseph, Pridmore's mother Rosemary, could not have been more different from her parents.
Diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, Rosemary left the family home when Pridmore was aged 11.
In absentia, her mother would still play an integral role in Pridmore's art, with her PhD project a direct response to "the dearth of images of mothers and daughters".
Pridmore's most influential maternal figure, however, is one not related by blood, but her godmother — Mary Elizabeth O'Byrne, after whom she was named.
Pridmore described her "fairy godmother" as becoming a "substitute during my mother's absence".
"But more than that, she showed how a creative woman could combine marriage, mothering and an independent intellectual life".
Her mother, Lyons and O'Byrne and Mary Pridmore's own life experiences have shaped her whole body of work.
She motioned to the self-portrait behind her, the embodiment of all those influences, remarking on its deliberate position "in a prominent place after I got sick, to give me courage".
"The feminist elements are the returned gaze, the older woman's body, the muscular legs. I wear a stole of my mother's for protection. I am wearing my godmother's wedding shoes. My glasses are in the corner to signify ageing.
"My leg is kicked back, the shoes are stained … I ask myself 'would I have painted this if my grandmother was still alive?' Perhaps not."
In the lead-up to the show, Amy Jackett, director of art and cultural experience at Hadley's, said the exhibition would allow a "glimpse into the artist's life and development of their practice".
Now Pridmore has died, Jackett said the "exhibition and all that it shares feels all the more poignant", urging "everyone to come and see this exhibition, to meet Pridmore through her vibrant self-portraits".
"I emailed her a picture of her beautiful dress we had prepared ready to display...she wrote back one word: 'Brilliant!'
"While preparing for the exhibition, it was a treat to spend time with Mary and learn more about her artistic processes, her life, and her passion for music, all of which I look forward to sharing through this exhibition."
As Pridmore's MND progressed, there was urgency in organising this final show.
"This exhibition is my response to an unusual, both rich and dark, family history and my maternal history," she said.
"I hope the audience will see how the work touches deeply on female psychology and the dilemmas of motherhood."
'A funny, passionate lady'
Mary Pridmore's son Will said his mum "passed away peacefully, surrounded by photos from home and [with] music she had commissioned from Tasmanian composers Ian Munro and Michael Kieran Harvey playing in the background".
Will Pridmore said his mother had been looking forward to October and her show — and he became emotional reflecting on the emphasis the show has, now she is gone.
"It was a bit unfortunate [her death] — she said October was going to be this amazing month … and she died on the last day in September," he said.
Now she has died, the show would be a "bookend to the life of an amazing woman".
"I hope when people come to the exhibition they will feel mum's energy, love and passion for life. I'm reassured she was able to see the project all come together.
"She was a funny, passionate lady that cared a hell of a lot about me and wanted me to succeed and live a good life and be happy."
