My 2023 creative output, “Domestic matters”, consisted of seven works in a range of media. The work "Carry me softly" (2023), an acrylic and oil painting on shaped-format plywood, started the project. It was first exhibited in Bages, France at the “Rhizome” exhibition at the Latuvu Art Gallery (July 2023).  The work is reflected on the Latuvu price list.

Used as a springboard and poster for the October exhibition “Object”, the work was shown again at the George Museum.  Both group exhibitions were curated by Prof Elfriede Dreyer as shown on her CAP Institute for Contemporary Art website.  

Together with the six other works (mixed media on paper and canvas), which I created for “Object”, the visual research of “Domestic matters” investigated objects associated with home. “The mother” and “The father” (photographic works printed on Hahnemühle Paper) were an outcome of account of picking up a discarded scrubbing brush, which jolted memory of my mother polishing red cement floors. 

Considering the interaction between the weathered object and the gleaming polished floor, I documented the brush from angles that speak about negotiation and labor: looking down onto it, confronting it head-on or placing it lateral across the horizon, barring access. The works “History/ Herstory lessons in brushwork” and “Ode to all mothers” were created by scrubbing the paper until the brush found its way onto the page, thus allowing the object to actively work its way into the process and resulting artwork.  

In “Ode to all mothers" I poured a puddle of ink and water on a sheet of Fabriano paper, then gently scrubbed it into the paper, allowing it to dry overnight. The paper and drying process added its own movement and a suggestion of a surreal landscape seemed to beg for a star or floating object - an addition of the collaged brushes reflect an urchin-like or star-like quality, which became a symbol of vision with the object being both past-facing and future-facing. On researching the idea, I found the terminology of "recasting and pastcasting", in the article "Looking backward to the future: On past-facing approaches to futuring" by Roy Bendor, Elina Eriksson and Daniel Pargman (2021).  

The insight for my understanding is that the past is not fixed, but more malleable than what I have imagined.  I will use this work and implication as a key for a research theme for 2024. 

“The Pont” and “Farmhouse” seek to draw links to environments that poetically spoke about floating and daydreaming.

Credits for short video’s:
Ode to all mothers (2023). Short by Donna Rundle, sound: George’s Lament.