‘The emergency of being alive’ is a body of work that distils thoughts on the human condition and the cosmos; ideas that have sat with the artist for many years. The title for the exhibition comes from American poet William Stafford, who kept a post-it note inscribed with the words just above his desk – a reminder to live attentively moment by moment. The universality in the sentiment and the resulting works invite a shared experience of the micro- and macro-components of the lives we live.

This body of work consists of monochromatic paintings which extend to poetically reflect on the irresolute and indeterminate, that which can be felt and sensed but not seen (akin to the conditions with which we understand dark matter and dark energy – its profound influence upon other matter and yet is not within our perception).

The paintings have a direct aesthetic relationship to the subjective processes and outcomes generated through telescopic imaging of outer space and matter under microscope, where utilising different light waves and other elemental detection systems show markedly distinct visible results (where matter invisible in composite images is clearly defined through limiting informational input). Through a culmination of patterns, materials and textures, the works also echo the visible markers of Earth’s unfolding motions (i.e. sand, ice, water, gas and rock formations). The result is a complex interchanging surface with no definitive viewing angle.

Photographic documentation by Matthew Stanton of Melbourne Museum Photography.
The accompanying exhibition text titled ‘The Flaw’ was written by Amy Rudder, 2021.