Jana Hawkins-Andersen, Monument Studies 20

Artist: Jana Hawkins-Andersen
Title: Monument Studies 20
Date: 2026
Size: 23.5cm x 10.5cm x 7cm
Material: Glazed stoneware

Jana is an artist living and working on Gadi country. Her practice is materially driven and is focused on collective and non-hierarchical ways of thinking. Her work is heavily invested in process and material experimentation, and uses relationships of preservation, decay, and fragility to complicate the idea of a finished or complete artwork. Jana completed her Masters in Fine Art at UNSW Art and Design in 2018. Recent projects and exhibitions include ‘Under Five Windows’ curated by Mary Macdougal at Reading Room, Melbourne 2024; ‘The Gate’ in collaboration with Paris Taia at Penrith Regional Gallery, 2023 and fashion consignment business Treasure and other projects as part of Suite7a.  

On Monument Studies by Jana Hawkins-Andersen

Monument Studies features a series of works by Margel Hinder, my great grandmother, from my family’s personal archive. Taken from the home of my grandmother Enid (the daughter of Frank and Margel Hinder), I grew up around these artworks. Many are maquettes and studies for her public sculptures - fragments of her practice that reveal her process, though I have always found them beautiful in their own right. 

I love the way her work explores texture and materiality, which is so evident in her smaller works and studies. Researching this show made me think about the ways I have been consciously and unconsciously influenced by her work. 

For instance, the tactility of these works— the delicacy of material and treatment of surfaces—links our practices. Many of the studies look like metal but they’re made from plaster, or other modelling materials. I've seen some of her small works made from folded sheets of copper, where metal looks like soft fabric. I’ve explored similar ideas using textiles and clay slip to form ceramics.

There’s an ambiguity in the materials of these works I enjoy so much. This is something I think about in my work, which references building materials and  architectural ornamentation. In Monument Studies my ceramics reference roof tiles.

I wanted to create something that could be assembled into a larger structure—each ceramic element a fragment that might form a whole. But this is only a study: a gesture toward something potentially monumental, but also engaging objects on their own. 

There’s something so charismatic and appealing to me about a tiny miniaturised monument. Or these incredible works Margel made that are just sitting on a shelf gathering dust and tarnish. But they are also so loved, they form a core memory of my grandmother and her home for so many family members. And are a reminder of Margel’s casual brilliance.