Morning story
Sue Westaway

2000
black and white photograph
45 x 32 cm

Description
Black and white photographic print depicting the upstairs hall at Meroogal. The print is set within a matt and mounted in a black frame behind glass.

Significance statement  
Sue Westaway was awarded first prize in the 2000 Meroogal Women’s Art Prize for her work Morning story. The regional prize was established by the Historic Houses Trust (HHT) in 1998 to maintain a continuing link between today’s women of the south coast and southern highlands of NSW and its heritage property, Meroogal. The theme for this year was An artistic response to life at Meroogal.

History
Sue Westaway took this photograph to enter in the 2000 Meroogal Women’s Art Prize. The HHT purchased the work from the artist in 2000.

Maker biography
Sue Westaway was born in Sydney and obtained an Art certificate from the National Art School in 1991. Additional studies include an Arts & Media certificate at North Coast TAFE and Ceramics certificate at Illawarra TAFE. Westaway has worked as a peace activist and conservationist and exhibited in various group exhibitions and the annual Shoalhaven Tabula Rasa Community Arts Festival. Commissions have included a 1998 street mosaic for Shoalhaven City Council and two bronze sculptures for the 1999 Shoalhaven City Council Public Arts Project. Responding to the political and social struggles of contemporary society, Westaway sees her work as influenced by renaissance thinking and art. Nature and the subconscious often provide inspiration, while her latest photographic exhibition Thinking with the heart explores themes of war and the environment.

Museum number
HHT2001/5

Bibliography  
Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales, cover photograph, Insites, No 26, Autumn 2001, cover
Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales, ‘Women’s Art’, Insites, No 45, Summer 2005, pp6–7
Hughes, Joy & Walker, Meredith, Meroogal, Nowra: a history and a guide, Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales, Glebe, 1988
Ramsay, Janet K, The women of Meroogal, Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales, Glebe, 1988