Australian Club Collection from The Collection

Date created: 2010
Date purchased: 2011

The acquisition of 'Mareeba Wet' at the time characterised the Club’s approach to adding the works of promising young Australian artists to the Collection. In the years since then, Catherine Nelson’s photography-based art practice has developed strongly, continuing to focus on the natural world, referencing both the varied landscapes of Australia and Europe, but also the plant life of the submerged world.

'Mareeba Wet', from her highly acclaimed 'Creation' series, is a beautiful photographic representation of a Queensland wetland, digitally transformed into a planetary sphere. In the series, Nelson created exquisite and meticulously composed images, which are microenvironments within an all-embracing landscape of the artist’s memory. It is an absorbing compendium of the myriad ecological components of the scene – sky, flood water, trees, aquatic plant life and flocks of birds, all compelling our close examination.

Nelson’s works are constructed of hundreds of individual photographs pieced together into a spherical whole, providing an infinite array of viewpoints for the observer, absorbed into a vibrant and whimsical world that demands close scrutiny. Sometimes expansive and at other times introspective, Nelson’s works invite the viewer to seek their own journey within the image before them. Nelson’s early training as a painter, combined with her experience in digital post- production in the film industry, gave her the tools to create such complex works. To quote the artist: "the panoramic constructions that I have created transport the viewer into a highly choreographed environment that is puzzling yet familiar in its beauty. It provokes contemplation as the viewer journeys further into a realm that is absolutely inspired by nature, yet defies it". 1

Based now in Ghent, Belgium, Nelson’s organic photographs have found international demand, and this has resulted in a series of solo exhibitions, including 'Submerged' and 'Expedition', each in turn exploring the detail and the generality of the landscape. A multiple prize-winner, Nelson has now exhibited widely in Australia, Europe, America and Asia and she is represented in many important collections here and overseas.

JB

1 Catherine Nelson artist statement in catalogue for 'Creation' series exhibition, Dominik Mersch Gallery, 2010