JADE 2016

Arborescence
Acrylic on canvas 91 x 122cm, sold

EXHIBITION STATEMENT

In 2016 after learning about the light rail project and the unnecessary destruction of our environment; I felt devastated and compelled to spend time with the endangered trees, painting a body of work highlighting the magnificence, beauty and vulnerability of trees and the birds that live in them. I developed a strong connection with the Moreton Bay fig trees on Anzac Parade and in Randwick. I witnessed the midnight chainsaw massacres: and as a consequence, my art practice was transformed into an expression of peaceful activism.

Initially, my practice involved drawing the trees with ink, charcoal and painting on site. I sat quietly with the trees and used these processes of rendering to become fully present, connected and responsive to the trees as complex life forms and sentient beings. I felt their love and majesty pour over me, protecting me, giving me strength and inspiring me to express their forms. The heightened emotions I felt while watching their destruction were channeled into the painting process with the intention of communicating awe and wonder.

The forms of the fig trees, leaves, trunks and torsos, are reminiscent of the human form. The figures within my artworks are entwined with nature, representing oneness and unity. I enjoy working with no fixed outcome in mind, creating interplay between opaque and translucent layers to reveal and conceal the mysteries of what lies beneath. The imagery emerges and fades in an emotional play until the work resolves itself.

My experiences of connection and love for such venerable, indiscriminately generous, equanimous and glorious giants leads me to continue contemplating, painting, learning, appreciating and honouring the trees.

Sitting in the shade
under the canopy of a majestic Fig Tree
and observing, drawing, painting.
Tracing her lines with a sensitive touch
I feel calmed, at peace and protected....
enchanted.
She shelters me,
shows me more than I had seen before.
Love blooms and deep gratitude for her untold gifts grow in me,
tainted with sorrow at knowing her imminent brutal future.