Refuge

Port Jackson Press Australia, 1 – 24 November 2017

This exhibition comes from observing the changes that inevitably occur from urban development. I look at what is happening outside my front door and see a metaphor for the disquiet of the world at large. There are connections to humanity, mortality, and how we value ‘things’.

I contemplate the displacement of resident birds and other animals that are dealing with a constantly renegotiated habitat. I think about the native trees that are extracted and replaced with light rail and so-called ‘budget’ housing.

In nature, nothing remains static, there is always renewal and regeneration after a natural disaster. There is none, however, when urban development creates the dislocation of flora and fauna. I have added these new ‘refugees’ of the urban landscape to my alphabet of linocut images, observing and collecting specific specimens with these thoughts in mind.

The new specimens build like memories and are part of a collective history; the images grow upon themselves telling the story and create a new imagined sense of place.