Birthday Blues is an exhibition of paintings by Mark Tweedie exploring the recurring feelings, moods and expectations associated with birthdays. Drawing on family photographs and memories, the works reflect on nostalgia, childhood, celebration and the discomfort of confronting the past.
Tweedie describes the birthday photograph as a moment in which time appears to stand still, capturing the possibility and anticipation of a wish being made. Yet his own childhood birthdays remain largely absent from memory. Through this body of work, he considers the significance of memory and forgetting, exploring what is present in family photographs as well as what is missing.
The paintings draw on his family’s photo albums, compiled by his mother, and The Australian Women’s Weekly Children’s Birthday Cake Book. These personal materials evoke childhood parties, neighbourhood friends and elaborate homemade birthday cakes, while reflecting on the impact of his family’s separation when he was five.
About the Artist:
Mark Tweedie (b. 1982, Perth) has been exhibiting since 2012. He has been a finalist in numerous major art prizes, including the Darling Portrait Prize (2024), Sunshine Coast Art Prize (2022), John Stringer Prize (2020) and Blake Prize (2018). He is a four-time Kilgour Prize finalist and was the inaugural winner of the Tony Fini Foundation Artist Prize at the Art Gallery of Western Australia’s Black Swan Prize in 2016.
Tweedie has undertaken regional residencies in Western Australia, including in Esperance and the Pilbara. His work is held in the City of Bunbury Art Collection, St John of God Health Care Art Collection and significant private collections.
Image: Mark Tweedie, I didn’t know what the prize was when I started, 2026, oil on canvas, 49.0 x 38.5 cm
