Two Homes - Deep South with Kimberley Stains

Edition sizes
30 x 28 cm
50 x 47 cm
70 x 68 cm
92 x 87 cm

Collections
• University of Western Australia • Janet Holmes a Court Collection

This project was born from a feeling of homesickness. Living in the remote West Kimberley and returning home to New Zealand several times a year means I move between two very different worlds, and neither really understands the other. I grew up in a valley in New Zealand where the sky was long and narrow and although I have travelled extensively, it was not until living in the flat savannah of Derby that the absence of hills and mountains became noticeable and overwhelming. The Kimberley is saturated in sunlight for most of the year. At times the sun and heat feel unrelenting and I long for winter. I began to have a recurring daydream of standing under mountains in the deep south of New Zealand. It was a subconscious retreat to a place I know and belong.

I became interested in natural pigments through my work at Mowanjum Art & Culture Centre where I worked between 2012 and 2019. I sampled a selection of pigments to layer over the Mitre Peak landscape. These colours come from the Kimberley, by overlaying I am referencing my connection to two homes, New Zealand and the West Kimberley region.