Painting

The nature of life in the city is entirely paradoxical, bringing isolation and disconnect in spite of densely packed populations. Although isolation is a central subject matter of my body of work, not all the figures are represented alone, as people can be together and still isolated from the world beyond their little bubble. The audience is intended to be an outsider looking in, oblivious to the names and stories of the individual figures. My work explores the disconnect between individuals in cities, oblivious to one another's existence despite inhabiting the same small area.

My beloved grandparents are an integral part of my life. Their stories and traditions shape my identity. Being Greek immigrants to Australia, they endured much sacrifice, upheaval and hardship. My body of work explores the intricacies of identity: the journey of life; the way emotional and cultural connections breach geographical distances; people's small mannerisms. My work uses unconventional surfaces, such as my grandmother's tablecloth. I have represented my grandparents' life in this country, but also my deep reverence and respect for them. Their love for each other and for family has created an enduring legacy for me here in Australia.

In my body of work I examine how the hushed ambience of candlelight can transform a space of mysterious darkness into an intimate gathering of warmth, hope and connection. Against the dramatic darkness of the chiaroscuro lighting, the bright candle flame represents the shared spirit of humanity as each person gazes at its mesmerising glow. In the face of the ongoing socio-political upheavals across the world and the daunting uncertainty of the future, my intention is to convey the sense of a timeless refuge of warm familiarity, unity and self-reflection and inspire hope for a brighter world ahead.

Gazing. Watching. Wondering. I wonder who you see when you look at me? Or who you can see in yourself. Through These Windows is a personal and emotional representation of self-discovery, an investigation that gave me the strength and the courage to reach out, reminding me of just how much love and support there is surrounding me. My body of work communicates, through the eyes, the souls of my closest friends and family, who I was, who I am and who I might be.

Each year the Australian bush catches fire, consuming the landscape in a fiery scene, clearing the land of the thirsty flora. My body of work is a chronological series that represents the progression of the bush after burning. Inspired by the Greek myth of the goddesses Persephone and Demeter, it explores the impact of weather cycles on the Australian bush. Based on my photos from the 2019 bushfires, my intention was to showcase the resilience of the Australian landscape and how the cycle of life and death is seen in nature.

“The best thing about a picture is that it never changes, even when the people in it do.” Andy Warhol Come with me on a roundabout journey, on a well-worn path I walked to elude a loved one's medical diagnosis. Let me bottle nature, archive catharsis by locking them in a painted stasis. If art is merely an expression of self, then my body of work represents the edge between optimism and escapism.

Landscapes Revealed is an interpretation of the topography of the landscape around me, which has been a source of inspiration. My body of work is intended to express the 'scaffold' of the land: the basic shapes on which its beauty is built. I have used my skills of observation, my experiences and imagination to create my paintings. My stylistic approach - the use of shapes and an exaggerated colour palette - represents the colours and patterns that are found within the landscape. These colours and patterns only become evident when you immerse yourself in the environment.

Sydney's housing crisis has confined many to smaller spaces. My body of work investigates this shrinking domain, stepping into and out of these tiny spaces to represent the unseen lives of individuals in a collective confinement. I chose my palette to convey the mundanity of limited choice. Examining our perceptions of the spaces we inhabit, my intention is to convey a view of individuals in their environment, using different perspectives to invite the audience in, to inhabit these confined spaces themselves. My work is a visual and visceral representation of the mundane: people finding room to breathe.

My body of work, The Art Museum as Ritual, references critic Carol Duncan's article of the same name, and similarly examines the ritual of observing art in a gallery. My intention was to represent the surreal atmosphere people experience within the architecture of these spaces. Duncan labels this liminality of the gallery as a space between the boundaries of day-to-day existence; detached, timeless and exalted. By uprooting the audience from the precise works at which it gazes, my intention is to amplify instead the beauty and art in this pensive, even vulnerable, ritual of seeing and being seen.

Driving the production of my body of work was an interest in the definition of masculinity, asking questions like 'What makes a man a man?' Today's generation is experiencing an unprecedented fluidity in gender identity, which has led to my examination of traditional images of manhood. These have typically revolved around stoicism, endurance and the inability to display 'weak' emotions. In my work I link this idea of stoicism to the Australian landscape that through floods and fires endures.

Painting these 13 canvases revealed something to me. The initial concept for my body of work was to represent the vibrant essence of our precious Australian flora and fauna, and the environment which I love and in which I thrive. However, as I did more research, my passion and concern for our natural ecosystems grew. It became clear that once animals become extinct, they leave only two things behind: the fading memory of their existence and a poignant reminder of the fragility of life. It is our responsibility to protect these defenceless creatures and not take them for granted.

My body of work represents the cathartic nature of consuming and writing literature. It was inspired by my inability to be vulnerable verbally but, counterintuitively, being able to communicate ideas through short stories and poems, despite my reluctance to share them. I further investigated the tension between vulnerability and finding comfort within art by fragmenting, destroying, layering and cutting apart my own written work. The dynamic contrast between backgrounds and portraits, in both materials and techniques, highlights the dissonance between myself and the stories. We must learn to write and explore the fears that we would love to leave unwritten.

Examining the subject of fire in my body of work has allowed me to use my practice to intertwine concept and personal experience. I used the 'classically beautiful' artform of painting to investigate two contradictory outlooks on the effect of bushfires within Australia. During the 2018 bushfires my family's farm tragically burnt down. It was a place that fostered many cherished memories. This devastating disaster inspired my work's representation of bushfires and their danger. Yet, as I witnessed the regeneration of the environment afterwards, I decided to also convey the bushfire's 'beauty' as it is vital for Australian plant propagation.