The ‘My Country’ series

Exhibition // 29 October – 28 November 2021 at the Gunnedah Bicentennial Creative Arts Gallery

ARTIST STATEMENT

As a landscape painter, my work is based on my observance, understanding and connection to the natural environment that surrounds me. My family have lived in the North West region and the Gunnedah area for generations, and I feel a strong sense of connection to the land.

For this series of works, I took inspiration from the lines of Dorothea Mackellar’s well-known poem, My Country. Dorothea’s family owned ‘Kurrumbede’, a farming property near Gunnedah, and she spent time in the area when she was younger. Although the poem was written by Dorothea when she was a homesick young woman in England more than 100 years ago, there is a timeless quality to the evocative words that still resonate today.

I found myself looking at the area’s distinctive landscapes with fresh eyes and developed work that reflected my interpretation of the poem and explored my own connection to country.

The 32 paintings in the series were completed over the last 12 months. I started with the recent memory of drought very fresh in my mind and worked through the seasons, looking at the changing colours and light and observing the transformation of the landscape throughout the year as the country flourished after rain.

Each artwork in the series measures 36cm (h) x 56cm (w)