nomadic encounters with tidal stories
As part of Australia's Celtic diaspora, I find myself caught in the Settler's dilemma. My flesh and bone hold ancient stories of distant ancestors, their lands and languages long forgotten. Yet here I am, born on land I don't belong to, whose own stories are shaped by different tongue and different ways. And so, I remain a coastal nomad. I trace my fingers along tidal lines and feel my toes sink into shifting sand. As I kiss the sea, I briefly capture momentary aesthetic impressions before high tide sends them on their way again.
Push Pull, 2021, mixed media on linen, 1220x510mm
Salt Marsh, 2021, raw pigments on canvas, 910x460mm
you can catch it in the palm of your hand feather light it lifts and drifts and settles. fingers fold in too quick the rush unsettles its tenuous hold up into the breeze it wafts and floats and now wary shifts and searches for that current that escape too late. you can catch it in the palm of your hand light as a feather it lifts and drifts and settles. hand softens open hearted like a nest like a cloud like a womb. you can catch it fledgling heart featherless breathless wavering wondering. hand softens open hearted like a nest like a cloud like a womb. it settles.
Coastal Riverbed; 2021, mixed media on canvas, 1530x510mm
Kelp Sway (deep sea), 2022, mixed media on canvas, 1530x510mm
Spirit Line, 2022, raw pigments on canvas, 1220x510mm
Seaweed meets Banksia, 2021, mixed media on canvas, 760x610mm, SOLD
Shore Bone, watercolour, bone, stone on canvas, 305x405mm, on Boon Wurrung Country
Tidal Forage, 2022, ceramic, raw pigments, hand dyed twine, seaweed on canvas, 300x400mm
Rockpools and Periwinkles, 2021, mixed media on canvas, 600x300mm
Coastal Tea Tree, 2021, mixed media on canvas, 600x300mm
Just below (the surface); 2021, raw pigments, watercolour on canvas, diptych, 400x200mm
Shoreline (monolith); 2021, supported timber, raw pigments, stone, 350x350mm
Lovers (earth); 2021, ceramic, wood, stone, 170x370mm
Sunset, 2022, raw pigments and stone on canvas, 405x305mm
Sand Dune, 2022, ceramic, stone, shells, 400x400mm
Nested: 2021, ceramic, found bird's nest, 140x270mm, on Boon Wurrung Country
Homage (to the sea); 2021, ceramic, stone, seaweed, shell, 160x250mm, on Boon Wurrung Country
Mother (earth); 2021, ceramic, wood, stone, 100x200mm
Kiss (the sea); 2021, ceramic, stone, seaweed, shell, rose, 160x240mm
The development of this body of work has been supported by Creative Arts Victoria through the Sustaining Creative Workers Initiative.
I gratefully acknowledge I live and work on the unceded countries of the Bunurong/Boon Wurrung and Gunaikurnai People and pay my respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging.