I broke the handle off my favourite mug this week. I don’t mind though because it is perfect for organising my pens, pencils, paintbrushes and all the assortment of studio tools that reside in old and broken ceramic mugs.
Organising my space gives me a sense of belonging. It becomes a place to dream and be creative in.
I’ve been thinking of how we inhabit and occupy our space, making it ours for a short or longer time.
Occupy is the exhibition title of my upcoming exhibition with textile artist Samantha Tannous at the Northern Rivers Community Gallery in Ballina which opens March 11.
This exhibition is about the layering of place and time and the traces of occupancy we live behind.
Last year I was at the BigCi artist residency in the Blue Mountains in March. I was only there for 6 days then all the artists had to pack up and return home due to the pandemic.
I wrote a blogpost about creating through crisis, inspired by a hand on a rock wall, hundreds of years old.
Who knew whose hand it was and what life was like for the First Nations people who called that place home.
It’s something I want to explore during my time returning to the Blue Mountains again in March to resume my artist residency at BigCi.
We all leave traces of ourselves, sometimes only felt through the whisper of the wind in the trees, the placement of stones on the ground or a hand painted onto a rock wall proclaiming I Was Here!
It brings up the existential questions of who am I? What is my place in the world at this time, in this life?
What will I leave behind?
Interesting thoughts for creative stimulus and my upcoming one month artist residency in March.
