‘This goes with that’ was my first solo show after art school, exhibited in the back gallery of Articulate Project Space in Leichardt from June 17 to July 2, 2023. The show continues my exploration of the creative process. In this body of work there is a focus on the line and space between art and design. I am most interested in the intersection between the two and ponder the consequences of categorisation. During the exhibition, my process was also on display. I created a site specific installation using objects from my studio and other found material as a response to the works on show and the gallery space itself.

I packed up my studio last week to mark the near completion of my BFA and to get ready to hang my grad show. Here’s a recap of my time in the studio in 2021. Its been quite a year; cliche but true-its been one of the most challenging yet rewarding of years. The studio has been my refuge. And last year I realised it is central to my practice. I now look forward to a new studio soon, as I hopefully continue my studies this year with the MFA at the National Art School.

This large painting on board (122 x 180cm) is part of my grad show body of work. For this series, I was thinking of flowers as markers of time- we celebrate, grieve and remember with them. These thoughts guide the beginning of the work but as it progresses I let intuition and chance take the lead. The painting starts to dictate certain moves and I paint until it feels like there is nothing more to be done to it. These photos show select stages of the work. There was about a month from the start of this painting to the end; although if I come back to this in another month I can probably start working on it again. Perhaps  a painting is never really done, just in a cyclical process of becoming. The title ‘we can’t go back’ is from a piece of writing that I unfortunately can’t remember the source of but it was about how things can’t be made simple again once innocence is lost. ‘we can’t go back’ suggests either staying still or moving forward.