At the heart of Patricia Piccinini's artworks is the idea of connection.
The artist behind works such as Skywhale and Skywhalepapa, tends to explore relationships within her work, in particular relationships with nature.
Pieces such as Cleaner, which is inspired by the leatherback turtle that's a vulnerable species due to pollution, aims to get people to sympathise with the animal. Other works, such as The Rescuers, which was inspired by a woman who ran into a burning forest and rescued a koala, is more literal in humans' relationship with nature.
Aside from depicting connections with nature, Piccinini says the role of art as a whole is to connect people.
"Art can create opportunities for people to come together to do purposeful things that are often with other people. And then that helps construct how meaning is created in society," she says.
"Something like the Skywhale performance, there are thousands of people that come together, and they experience the same thing. And they get up and it's almost like a ritual, where you get up in the very early morning, and you experience this often life-affirming thing."
