Mebourne based printmaker Jazmina Cininas uses the complex process of reduction linocut to create her striking anthropomorphic images, drawing upon both her Lithuanian heritage and Australian upbringing. Her Girlie Werewolf Project has toured throughout Australia with great success. Here the much maligned Dingo, Eastern European werewolf mythology, and ideas about femininity combine.

Like the multiple layers of colours that comprise her technically brilliant prints, Cininas’ works contain a thematic depth and complexity that draws on centuries of myth making – including that of today. She writes of her work:

“The wolf’s history as a construct of the popular psyche more closely parallels the way women have been portrayed throughout the ages. Its classic identities as either the selfless nurturing mother (as in the Jungle Book and Romulus and Remus stories), the diabolical werewolf, and as the ravening man-eater respectively mirror the chaste wife, heretic witch and femme fatale archetypes traditionally reserved for representations of women.” - Jazmina Cininas “The Girlie Werewolf Project: Between the Wolf and the Dog” Catalogue, Impressions on Paper Gallery, 2006.

Cininas is represented in numerous private and public collections including the National Gallery of Australia, and the National Gallery of Victoria, where her series titled Lycanthropy survival hints recently featured in a major exhibition, Grotesque: The Diabolical and Fantastic in Art. Prizes include: Vincas & Genovaite Kazakos Award, 1998, 2005; Wyndham City Contemporary Art Prize, 2002; RMIT Faculty of Art and Design Award, 1994 amongst others.

In 2007 she will be having a solo exhibition at the Port Jackson Press Print Room.