Drawing on my past exhibitions Wilding (Fox Galleries, Melbourne, 2025) and Elemental Drift (Linton and Kay Galleries, early 2025), this work considers landscape as lived, felt, and encountered rather than merely observed.

Wilding explored nature reinstating itself — cycles of recovery and regeneration that unfold slowly, carrying resilience, hope, and quiet urgency. Elemental Drift also reflected this process, drawing on Walt Whitman’s Blades of Grass, where a single blade becomes a starting point for expansive narratives of connection, continuity, and care.

Held Ground focuses on a small pocket of the Margaret River region, recognising how intimate relationships form with specific places. Drifting along Caves Road, visiting wineries, walking through bushland, and immersing in rivers and the ocean, we wake refreshed, revitalised, and indulged.

Yet this paradise is fragile. The work asks how long such places can remain held — and how we might learn from Wadandi elders, who advise taking the time to listen to the Balga.

Held Ground and the Balga ll, 2026, 100 x 120 cm Oil on canvas.

Held Ground (Balga), 2025, 150 x 140 cm, oil on canvas.