Diena Georgetti: A.I and the Evolution of Self-Portraiture

In the late 1980s, Diena Georgetti first gained attention in the Australian art world with poetically scrawled text-based blackboard paintings, inspired, in part, by Joseph Beuys and Cy Twombly. After moving from Brisbane to Melbourne in the early 1990s, where she was a member of Store 5 (1989-1993), an inspired artist-run-initiative, Georgetti’s blackboard pieces were included in the 1992 Biennale of Sydney, alongside the work of fellow up-and-coming ‘cultural itinerants’ such as Gordon Bennett and Hany Armanious. From here, her practice took a surprising turn. Shifting to a more disciplined, self-conscious demeanour, Georgetti began adapting historical painting styles, first with hints of orientalist allure then with an abstract, early twentieth century bent…