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George Gittoes | |
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 George Gittoes | |
| Born | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation(s) | Film director, producer, writer and artist |
| Years active | 1970–present |
| Website | gittoes |
George Noel Gittoes, AM (b.1949) [1] is an Australian artist, filmmaker, and writer.
George Gittoes grew up in Rockdale, New South Wales where he would stage puppet shows in his backyard. [2] He attended Bexley Public School and Kogarah High School. [3]
He studied fine arts at the University of Sydney and in 1969 co-founded the Yellow House at Potts Point with other artists, where Gittoes performed puppet shows and was active during the 1970s. [1] [2] Later, in 2011 he relocated to Afghanistan and opened a Yellow House in Jalalabad which focuses on filmmaking. [2]
He and his wife Hellen Rose have become well known for making anti-war art. [4] It has seen them travel to several war zones in countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, [4] and Ukraine where they travelled to make a documentary film about local artists. [5]
In 2014, Gittoes was invited by Julian Assange to the Ecuadorean Embassy in London where Assange was staying. Gittoes painted a portrait of Assange that he entered into the 2017 Archibald Prize, where he had previously been a finalist in 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, and 1997. A second portrait of Assange was entered into the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize. [6]
Gittoes' contribution to Australia has been recognised by the award of Member of the Order of Australia (1997) "for service to art and international relations as an artist and photographer portraying the effects on the environment of war, international disasters and heavy industry". [7]
He was also awarded the Centenary Medal (2001) "for service as an internationally renowned artist". [8] He was given an honorary Doctorate in Letters by the University of New South Wales in 2009. A comprehensive public solo exhibition of his work, Witness to War, appeared at the Station Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston, Texas, in April 2011. [9]
Gittoes and Rose received the NSW Premiers Award in 2014 jointly for their Services to the Community, recognising the couples co founding of the Yellow House Jalalabad in Afghanistan and the Rockdale Yellow House in Arncliffe, New South Wales.[ citation needed ]
Gittoes was awarded the 2015 Sydney Peace Prize for his years of work "fighting injustice for over 45 years as a humanist artist, activist and filmmaker". [10] [11]
Gittoes twice received the Bassel Shehade Award for Social Justice from the Syracuse International Film Festival — in October 2013 [12] for Snow Monkey, and in 2019 for White Light).[ citation needed ]
In 2020 Gittoes received honorary membership to the Australian Peacekeeper and Peacemaker Veterans' Association Inc., "for dedicated and selfless acts to chronicle Australia's Peacekeeping operations, and for his support and recognition of that community in Australia".[ citation needed ]
In 2025 Gittoes was presented with a Lifetime Achievement award by the Sydney Underground Film Festival. [13]
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