Residency at Guanlan International Printmaking Base, China

The printmaking centre is located in an historic village featuring traditional Hakka houses and much older stone towers that had belonged to important local families. These towers had an imposing presence reminiscent of those built during late medieval times in Tuscany. In Guanlan they were topped with quite intricate reliefs that combined elements from European classical architecture with more elaborate local motifs. I saw them as sentinels guarding the paddy fields and lilly ponds below.

I was fascinated by the effects of centuries of erosion on the walls of the village houses that had created richly pitted surfaces and patches of lichen-stains that are often found in tropical climates. In some of the back lanes of the village I found a stillness and a quiet presence that could evoke a hint of past lives.

On weekends there would be an influx of local tourists keen to explore the village and its beautiful gardens. I was struck by an image of young girls focused on taking smart-phone photos of themselves, oblivious to a now rare faded portrait of Mao on the wall above them.

I found that the etching process was ideally suited to explore some of the qualities I was keen to embody in these images.

Victory & the Serpent
This etching incorporates figurative and architectural elements from my residency at the Guanlan Original Printmaking Base and the nearby China Print Museum, north of Shenzhen, China. Albrecht Durer’s iconic rhinoceros adds to the surreal ambience of an imaginary scene. The sparse text (beneath the winged, squatting figure) is loosely adapted from a Russian poem by the 1920s’ Imaginist author, Anatoly Marienhof – translated for me by another resident artist, Victoria.

The Gifts
During my sojourn in Guanlan, I met resident artists from Bulgaria, Ukraine, Poland, Belarus, Slovakia, Nepal and different parts of China. People around me were speaking mostly Chinese and Russian. This lithograph was inspired by my gratitude for a wide range of presents showered upon me, during my residency.

Lightning Storm
This lithograph arose from a late night conversation with another resident artist in Guanlan. He described his intense fear during a lightning storm, having once experienced the shock of electrocution, as a child. Astounded by his account of survival against the odds, I added a guard dog as a protective entity, beside the hiding figure.

Residency at Trondheim, Norway

In 2011, I was awarded an ArtsSA Professional Development Grant to complete a month long residency at Lademoen Kunstnerverksteder in Trondheim, Norway.

My residency culminated in an exhibition at Trondheim’s Babel Gallery and included a series of prints developed from drawings made in the Nidaros Cathedral crypt

In the eleventh century, after a long and bloody career as a Viking pirate, Saint Olaf returned to Norway and became king, ruling from the ancient capital of Trondheim. He ruthlessly converted his people to Christianity before dying in battle. A spring with healing properties is said to have originated from his grave and Nidaros Cathedral was later built on the site. The city of Trondheim became and still is, a centre of pilgrimage where believers come hoping to be cured.

My artists books feature images incorporating votive offerings. Exvotos have existed for thousands of years in many cultures. Often taking the form of the body part that is to be healed, these magical artefacts are activated by placing them on a church shrine and offering prayer to a patron saint.

Residency at Guanlan International Printmaking Base, China

While moments in time pass, sometimes faster than one can take the time to appreciate them, there is a great significance of place in preserving memories. I believe that history is absorbed by its landscape and becomes an intrinsic part of that land. In some ways, our past experiences continue to exist forever in the spaces they once occupied. I attempt to capture within my images this ephemeral connection between experience, time and space, and allow the viewer to reflect upon their own history and connection to childhood and place.

The various characters used within my works are taken from a cast of created identities, who I often depict. They were first used to represent the passing of my childhood, depicted as a parade of circus performers departing through familiar landscapes and into the distance. As I have come to realise that these aspects of myself still exist, my characters now travel with me throughout life, exploring both new and familiar landscapes, and contemplating their existence within these places in time.

These current works were created over two artist-in-residency periods at Guanlan International Printmaking Base in Shenzhen, China, in 2016 and 2017. The images explore the new surroundings that became my home for those brief moments in time. By placing my characters within this new and curious setting, they explore the landscape, perhaps with a deeper contemplation and romance than they might have had exploring a more familiar place. As they occupy these spaces, they consider the mystery of all that has been there before them, and all that is still to come. They view the landscape both from the perspective of a child, contemplative, but full of wonder and fascination, as well as from the more sombre perspective of an adult, coming to see the world as it really is.