Making a bad situation worse

The refugees and asylum seekers on Manus Island are refusing to leave the compound for fear of their lives. The Australian Government is systematically closing the centre down, shutting off power, ceasing supplies, pulling down fences. The hundreds of asylum seekers remaining stay on in increasingly desperate circumstances. “As well as the constant threat of being told to move to unsafe housing, the systematic…

THERE IS NO QUEUE WHEN YOU RUN FOR YOUR LIFE

Works from 2016…

Seeking Refuge

Exhibition curated by Narelle Phillips of the Tuggeranong Arts Centre. I am very excited to have been invited to take part in this exhibition. The opening was a great occasion and an opportunity to meet other artists working with the same subject matter. My main piece in the show “Uncertain Voyage” was also used as the front cover of a new book published earlier…

UNCERTAIN JOURNEYS

Today was bump in for my exhibition “Uncertain Journeys”. The image of the boat has been a recurring theme in my painting for three years. Imagining the claustrophobic hull – the hell of uncertainty. The forced migration of people is a defining aspect of the times and the “illegal” journey to Australia by boat is now part of our modern mythology. I worked night…

The Family

In recent months I have concentrated on a series of works on paper on the theme of a family group. This is a theme that has been explored by many artists and I am particularly drawn to the images of Henry Moore during his “bomb shelter” era. I used my own family as a reference, assembling them to make a tableaux then expanding on basic this…

THE QUEUE

There is no queue when you run for your life…

Vacillating…

I have been working on two distinct themes this year. Continuing the Asylum Seeker pictures as well as the Child’s Garden series. I’m vacillating about putting in a proposal for a show “speak for me”, however I remain uncertain as to whether I have the right pictures for such an exhibition. On the weekend I dressed the kids up with head scarves and took…

Lifestyle Choice

See the ink to this article… http://www.smh.com.au/national/tony-abbotts-lifestyle-choice-remark-leaves-everyone-hurting-inside-in-remote-indigenous-communities-20150313-143lh7.html

Displaced

I like to work the surface before using the stencil. It gives the finished work a more painterly quality.

The Survivors

It would have been good to put together this exhibition, but it is time to move on now. Thinking about a broader canvas, a “Duty of Care” series that could incorporate recent themes as well as those images still to come. Of course I imagine large monolithic works, gallery pieces that will never see the inside of a gallery. However first I must make…