N. H. Van Der Haar


Study of Bot-Generated Art No.2

Roman Emperor smoking in Hosier Lane
Connie Mostyn
Painted 2034 in Melbourne, Australia
Purchased with funds from the International Archive of Culture (IAC) in 2036.

Mostyn’s artistic style was noted for a portrayal of poverty through a dramatic artistic perspective. Roman Emperor smoking in Hosier Lane was commenting on poverty in Melbourne and how the media caricatured the homeless as ‘selfish’ and ‘lazy’. When Mostyn was beginning her artistic career, she was homeless and struggled with alcohol addiction.

From 2032 to 2034 Mostyn was employed at the Federal Artist’s Institute as what she described as “a government propagandist”. During this time several of Mostyn’s pieces were rejected for Federal exhibition for being critical of the government. Roman Emperor smoking in Hosier Lane was one of these pieces.

“Connie Mostyn’s sympathy for the impoverished came from personal experience. The faceless, formless figures stripped of humanity and identity because they lack wealth in a capitalist society. I think of this work as a piece of Pre-War Melbourne Culture” — Professor Saul Esterhase, Senior Curator of the Archive of Pre-War Culture.

Questions about Roman Emperor Smoking in Hosier Lane for student viewers:

1.    ‘Roman Emperor’ is an extinct political title. Why does Mostyn use this figure in this piece?
2.    ‘Smoking’ refers to the recreational inhaling of tobacco products. Why does/does not Mostyn discuss addiction here?
3.    Mostyn shows us an electric light in the corner of the work. What does the lighting suggest in Mostyn’s work?
4.    Have you ever been to Hosier Lane? What does it look like now?

N. H. Van Der Haar is a Neurodivergent, Bi writer completing a Masters at the University of Melbourne. This work is very short because it is part of a much larger series that they hope to publish over time.

 
 

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