The way place embeds itself into identity is of interest to me. We carry some places with us forever and they become infused into our very core. Some landscapes take up more room within us, and Arrernte Country was one of those places for me. My exhibition, SUN.beats.STILL is a collection of memories from my time spent in the Northern Territory, hiking and camping along the MacDonnell Ranges (Tjoritja).

Iconically known for its 'redness', I was struck by the kaleidoscope of colour that I witnessed from sun up to sun down each day. Colours could be gently subdued or washed out, while at other times saturated and fully pigmented, revealing harsh shadows and lines. The sun radiates a variety of spectral hues down onto the land each day, and the land responds to this gesture by putting on its finest display.

I was particularly drawn to the rocky outcrops of this land. The gums that cling to the barren, jutting rocks, and the water beneath. I’ve chosen these revered sites as metaphors for another world that exists just out of sight. The veil between worlds is thinner here and there’s a crossing over or exchange that happens between life and death, the spiritual and mundane, and the polarities of human existence in all its duality. These paintings are both the source and the closing of life, coming full circle and folding into themselves in a mirage of colour, texture and form.

In Arrernte Country, there exists a different type of rhythm, an ancient conversation of time, seasons and life; inter-connected in a vast web of unfathomable beauty.