Returning

June 2020- Ongoing

This series explores memory through the lens of personal mythology and depicting the permanence of landscape in retelling these stories. My paintings build on a natural landscape as a tool to recreate a memory. The feeling of nostalgia is activated in order to construct a narrative that discusses how everything in life can change but these places remain. Ultimately due to climate change they are ever-changing as well, but with a collective goal to engage and hold ourselves accountable to foster that discussion, the odds of us sharing these same beloved landscapes with future generations improves.

Many scenes are based on photographs of Hornby Island where I spent a large number of my fondest memories growing up, interacting with its nature. Returning to these beaches, or looking at those pictures, offers a moment to reflect on how much has changed within my life. 

I explore the feeling of ‘reflective nostalgia’ by being open to the complex emotions of mourning what has been left behind in my life as I revisit these familiar places. This could be within big life changes, or shifting friendships with those I had once visited this space. These paintings serve as a chance to reminisce and reflect on what remains everlasting and alive in contrast to aspects that live on in that place still only in my memories.

To inquire about the availability of this work, please see the Sweetpea Gallery’s online shop here.

Process- References and Sketches

Exhibition History