I have entered the National Works on Paper competition run by the fantastic Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery. My artist statement is here:
- My practice focuses on the construction of self identify, and the role that memories (real or imagined, personal or appropriated) serve to shape that identity, whether for our ‘real life’ or the life we wish for. I am currently exploring this theme by examining my own fascination with European travellers to Central Asia between 1890 and 1920. Why did these people effectively exile themselves in foreign lands? Why do their stories resonate with me? Is it the vicarious opportunity to reinvent oneself or a proven means of escape? The six part work ‘Armchair Traveller’ illustrates a fabricated set of engagements between myself and two such groups of explorers (a male archaeologist and trio of female missionaries), based on images from their travel books. The techniques used (layering, transparency, and abstraction) reflect the fragmentary and illusionary nature of memory.
The entered work is shown below:
