This exhibition began in February 2026 during a month-long residency in Itoshima, Japan, at Studio Kura. During this month, I made a range of work on all sorts of surfaces, but mostly on awaa washi papers. One of these works was recently selected as a finalist in the Swan Hill National Drawing prize. The work that sparked me most, though, was a small series of assemblages made using the box some of the Awa washi papers were delivered in. The cut-up cardboard box became a makeshift shelf on my studio desk, and it also became 12 small pieces of cardboard. On these pieces of card, little landscapes and reflections started to emerge. Each day I would go for an early walk, before my housemates woke up, across the rice fields, sometimes to the beach or a shrine or the supermarket. On my walk, I would find bits of colour and texture (aka rubbish) that interested me and made their way into my winter jacket pockets. Back in the studio, these pieces of flotsam had great potential for dialogue with gouache, pencil, and other collaged bits.
At some point after my return home, I found these assemblages stayed alive and activated for me.
When I later came across a bunch of frames at reverse garbage and later again realised those frames were a good fit for 40cm x 50cm Italian gesso boards, the idea to ‘translate’ the assemblages popped up. To work from 3D to 2D seemed like an odd exercise and it has been a really rich process. I found that there was a point in each translation where the assemblage dropped away, and the painting stood up on its own and took on an entirely separate life.
I see the collection as a visual poem, and I feel it can be read that way, maybe like an atmosphere, a dream recalled in parts, or an idea emerging.
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Opening event: Saturday 24 October, 4 – 6 pm
Artist talk: 4.30 pm
Side Gallery, 7 Emma Street, Red Hill
