august, 2019
13aug(aug 13)9:00 am20sep(sep 20)5:00 pm
Event Details
Vote now for the People’s Choice Awards in this year’s Queensland Regional Art Awards.
The Queensland Regional Art Awards (QRAA) is an annual visual arts prize and exhibition for established and emerging artists living in regional and remote Queensland. The theme in 2019 is ‘State of Diversity’:
Queensland is a state full of diverse ecosystems, wildlife, places, people and personalities. This year, artists are encouraged to explore the diverse elements and qualities that make up their own communities and locations within Queensland.
The theme was to be addressed in an accompanying artist statement of 100 – 150 words.
People’s Choice Award Voting Process
There are two categories within the People’s Choice Award. Your votes determine the winners of the following prizes:
Adult – $1,250 Ironlak art materials voucher
Youth – $750 Ironlak art materials voucher
Thanks to Ironlak
All entries that meet competition requirements are eligible for the People’s Choice Award.
Voting Process
1. Voting is restricted to one vote each for adult/youth per person.
2. To vote you must provide your real name and email address for confirmation.
3. A confirmation email will be sent to your nominated email address to confirm your vote. You will need to reply to this email to validate and confirm your submission. If you do not reply to this email your vote will not be valid
Voting Now Closed
Adult Category
Little fishy mandala
Artist: Susan Lhamo
Artist Location: TAMBORINE MOUNTAIN
Medium: Digital photograph on matte enhanced photographic paper, 2018
Dimensions: 30 x 30 x 0.1 cm
Artist Statement:
The digital image “Little fishy mandala” reveals a contrast between the transparent waters of Currumbin Creek and a delicate mandala of vegetation and fish created from various photographs I’ve taken. The expression of diversity is seen in this contrast, through viewing these aspects of the same place seen in dissimilar ways. The image of the fish mandala encapsulates the mood and intricacy of small water habitats found in these tidal creek locations and is like a mirror on this tiny world while the Currumbin Creek background image shows the bigger picture…one that we’re most familiar with, in everyday form.
Photographer: Susan Lhamo
Out of the Blue
Artist: Karen Stephens
Artist Location: WINTON
Medium: Acrylic on paper, 2019
Dimensions: 20 x 29 x 3 cm
Artist Statement:
Boulder Opal with its dominant flashes of brilliant blue, is found deep underground at Opalton near Winton Queensland. Once an inland sea, the gem has been luring diverse nationalities since the late 1800s. Boulder Opal is unique to Winton making this remote region a state of diversity.
My painting is from a larger collection of recent works made in Winton about the coloured gem. I liken my practice of a landscape painter to the work of an opal miner – long hours in solitude and a belief in finding richness. There is this daily repetitive search, a type of chipping or scraping away and often I come home frustrated and empty handed. The prospect of finding wealth in this way is reflected in the eyes and words of the wider public which contain a tinge of madness.
But then sometimes I strike it lucky – I am fishing for landscape.
Photographer: Karen Stephens
Fallen Stick #1
Artist: Julie McEnerny
Artist Location: EDGE HILL, CAIRNS
Medium: Watercolour pencil on Arches 300gsm, 2019
Dimensions: 50 x 35 x 0.2 cm
Artist Statement:
Microcosms of industry, that’s what I see on finding one of my ‘sticks’. I can go weeks without yearning for another but when I do it’s always there somewhere, overloaded and fallen from high in the paperbarks. This one supports a mixed bag of companions. Along with tiny mosses, lichens and fungi there’s Dischidia, the button orchid, and holding centre stage Queensland’s own ant plant (Myrmecodia beccarii). Here’s where the diversity of life forms supported by this host gets really, symbiotically interesting! There’s a beautiful relationship going on between that spiky bulbous epiphyte, the industrious ants that live inside and a small butterfly called Apollo Jewel who allows them to take care of her eggs.
Predominantly a drawer, I enjoy the direct contact between medium and ground. I choose watercolour pencil for its immediacy and all-round versatility when rendering small scale natural forms.
Photographer: Lee Middleton, Highscan
The Great Barrier Reef Bio-diversity – Pisces (view detail)
Artist: Buck Richardson
Artist Location: Kuranda
Medium: Photography/Digital Art on aluminium composite, 2019
Dimensions: 100 x 120 x 25 cm
Artist Statement:
Tropical North Queensland has two hot spots of bio-diversity, both World Heritage listed: the Wet Tropics and the Great Barrier Reef. In The Great Barrier Reef Bio-diversity – Pisces I have used many of my original images of fish, including sharks, taken at the wonderful Cairns Aquarium to create a 3D wall hanging. The foreground has line and swivels to make the suspended individual fish move with every zephyr of air caused by the viewer moving in front of the work creating the illusion of fish swimming and darting. While the Cairns Aquarium gives a preview of the myriad diversity of the wonders of Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef for able swimmers, for those who must stay out of the water, it provides an exciting and immersive experience. Persistence is the key to achieving presentable images of the fish as they are usually in constant motion. But what an exhilarating challenge!
Photographer: Buck Richardson
Tree of Knowledge
Artist: Jennifer Redmond
Artist Location: Highvale
Medium: Acrylic/Oil on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 30 x 30 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
The ancient pine tree in my garden is “The tree of knowledge”
having witnessed the development of the area from settlement to to-day.
The land where the tree stands is at the headwaters of the South Pine River and at the base of Mt. Nebo and Mount Glorious. Returned Soldiers from the First World War were given holdings here and began tilling and working the land. The diversity which began with the soldiers has over time changed to the now settled area of Rural Suburbia. This is still an area held dear by the community and where there is a huge involvement with local issues within a caring environment.
The old pine tree has witnessed it all and stands tall and proud with the knowledge of the diversity of change from the past to the present.
Photographer: Jon Linkins
Whispering Sands, Elim Beach.
Artist: Tracey Mutze-Butler
Artist Location: TEWANTIN
Medium: Acrylic paint and artists dry ground pigments., 2019
Dimensions: 60 x 50 x 2 cm
Artist Statement:
‘Whispering Sands, Elim Beach’, is an artwork conceived after a road trip to Far North Queensland in 2017. The journey allowed for an experience of diverse wilderness areas including, rainforest, grasslands, wetlands and aboriginal homelands .
Firstly I photograph close up perspectives of the subject then reimagine the images in the studio as a painting
Elim Beach is an hour and a half from Cooktown. The coloured sand dunes are accessed by 4WD at high tide.
The dunes tower over the beach with dazzling luminosity of red, orange, pink, yellow and cream coloured sands .
It was as if the sun had fallen from the sky and all its beautiful hue was absorbed into the dunes.
Whispering Sands, is a celebration of the memory of wild places.
Photographer: Tracey Mutze-Butler
Catastrophe
Artist: Trudy Brooks
Artist Location: Dayboro
Medium: Watercolour,graphite and ink on yupo paper, 2019
Dimensions: 58 x 88 x 0.3 cm
Artist Statement:
Sometimes the diversity of our weather is too much to bear. After a devastating drought, our North Queensland graziers were hit by catastrophic floods earlier this year. The usually welcome rains have become another obstacle to survival.
This work depicts the despair of one grazier during the catastrophic Queensland floods. It symbolizes that the vast flood and its devastation have become a part of who he is. There may be light on the horizon but all that occupies the man’s thoughts now are horrific, reoccurring visions of his dead and dying cattle across the vista of the land. At this moment he is overwhelmed but in time and with support, he will endure what is ahead and survive.
Photographer: Trudy Brooks
Mangrove Mafia
Artist: Fiona Groom
Artist Location: Ninderry
Medium: Acrylic, 2019
Dimensions: 120 x 120 x 3 cm
Artist Statement:
Life on the Noosa River is always changing, so taking a rest, soaking up the warm sun and just hanging out with your friends is not only traditional with us humans, but very much enjoyed by the local bird inhabitants. This painting conveys a sense of River life, a sense of comradery, peacefulness and a feeling of the river flowing, rising and falling weaving its way out to sea… River life is in constant flux as these birds go about their daily lives we the viewers get to witness the beauty and diversity that life on the Noosa River gives us every day…
Mangrove Mafia… Noosa River Locals
Photographer: Fiona Groom
Castle in the Sky
Artist: Sandra Ross
Artist Location: GYMPIE
Medium: Mixed media on hal, 2019
Dimensions: 107 x 78 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
Mothar Mountain rockpools, Amama waterfall and the birthing pools of Mary’s Creek are some very special places around me. Drawing and walking through these places has provided me with a repertoire from which to imagine world within worlds.
Human existence is threatened due to global heating.
My work shows a seedy heart shaped landscape geminating, carrying DNA into a hopeful future, yet fortified to protect its inhabitants. Rocks bleed watery tears, roots tangle and entwine, searching for new life.
The earth may lie dormant, chrysalises will metamorphosise, new life will prevail, however, for now, we cannot foresee the future and are floating like a castle in the sky.
Photographer: Sandra Ross
Heart Reef Love Birds
Artist: Maureen Riggs
Artist Location: BURNSIDE
Medium: Oil, oil pastels, oil wax glazes on 100% cotton canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 100 x 120 x 3.5 cm
Artist Statement:
Theme ‘State of Diversity’
Heart Reef is a heart shaped coral bommie located in Hardy Reef 60 kms from the mainland, Whitsunday Islands QLD. The funny thing is Heart Reef was only officially discovered 1975. Since then this diverse formation of living coral colonies has become world famous and is an iconic tourism marketing phenomena. Many people have taken wedding vows standing in the sand in the centre of this fascinating reef structure.
For me personally Heart Reef resonates as the very heart of the Great Barrier Reef the largest living organism on our planet.
The Red Tailed Tropic Birds spend most of their lives at sea. The male and female mate high in the sky just as I have depicted these two courting above Heart Reef. They can be found nesting on remote coral caye islands scattered all over the Great Barrier Reef system.
Photographer: Maureen Riggs
Opalus
Artist: Michelle Kennedy
Artist Location: CABARLAH
Medium: Acyrlic and aerisol on canvas, 2018
Dimensions: 76 x 101.5 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
Having lived in remote western Queensland, Opalus was inspired by the amazing colour of the the western red hills, white gums, pebbled riverbeds & vastness ~ the diversity of environment & landscape of our state. Named Opalus, as much of the opal deposition is a conglomeration of vastly diverse volcanic product, and formed by water, silica from sandstone, decomposing fossil and other earthen sediment, formed over a longtime and deeply affected by wet and dry periods. It strikes me that the opal is a visual metaphor for Queensland, representing the diversity of colourful environments, climates, landscapes & peoples particular to each area of our beautiful state. Each opal, recognisable as such yet unique in its colour, personality and origin, yet non the less a Queenslander.
Photographer: Michelle Kennedy
A Loganholme Queenlander
Artist: The Ly
Artist Location: LOGANHOLME
Medium: Watercolour on 300 gsm paper, 2019
Dimensions: 55 x 75 x 0.1 cm
Artist Statement:
A Queenslander is a unique architecture in Queensland which is designed to be adaptive and responsive to the regional climate and environment. The characteristics are that the house is made of timber, elevated, and built with tin roof. It has large surrounding verandahs which help occupants to connect to outdoor spaces, create circular ventilations, and open to a diversity of fauna and flora.
The painting picked up a Loganholme Queenslander, including its Queenslander features and the connecting landscape. The house and the surrounding habitat join together as a whole. The painting showed a tranquillity life in Queensland country, but indicated lively activities of people, animals, pastureland and trees. The colour was selected in warmth, revealing a sunset moment in Queensland. By exploring space and time of the characteristic Loganholme Queenslander, the painting discovered a sense of place which can only be found in the diversity of Queensland.
Photographer: The Ly
Spring flower garden
Artist: Michelle Mann
Artist Location: WOOMBYE
Medium: Mixed media, pencil, acrylic,, 2019
Dimensions: 30 x 40 x 5 cm
Artist Statement:
I live in South East Queensland a diverse and very beautiful part of the world. From its Glass house mountains to the islands, beaches and marine life, it is a most important eco system and I feel privileged to live in. I am inspired by so many different things but nature is the thing that most inspires me. Where i live in Woombye I am surrounded by beauty, native animals and birds. And in particular native plants, flowers, seeds, pods which are reflected in my art.
Photographer: Michelle Mann
This Too Shall Pass
Artist: Katrin Terton
Artist Location: BLACK MOUNTAIN
Medium: Mixed Media, series of sculptural pieces on wall mounted perspex shelves, 2018
Dimensions: 60 x 70 x 18 cm
Artist Statement:
The various organic materials and found objects used for this series of 11 crown-shaped objects were all collected on the Sunshine Coast. The crown symbolises the individual sovereignty we have and the ability to take charge of the changing pathways in our lives. These materials represent the diversity of the local environment, relating to flora, fauna and human-made aspects as well as different endeavours, skills and interests of members of the community. For example: beeswax, shed snakeskin and ashes refer to the quest to protect and manage wildlife and the ecosystem; hair, fibres and book pages to creative pursuits, chillies and kombucha culture to local food artisans. The title alludes to the ephemeral nature of the materials and the evolving environmental and cultural changes and challenges. This work acknowledges the diversity of the local communities and the transience of all elements of the environment we inhabit.
Photographer: Andrew Mortimer
Hedlow Creek, west – grazed wetlands
Artist: Veronika Zeil
Artist Location: ROCKYVIEW
Medium: Acrylic onboard, 2019
Dimensions: 47 x 91 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
This painting depicts the aerial view from Mt Hedlow north of Rockhampton, documenting the highly fractured and extensively grazed nature of that landscape in minimal, expressive style emphasizing diversity of this ecosystem as well as extensive land-use. This marine plane consists of Hedlow Creek, tiny remnants of original melaleuca and blue gum woodlands, areas of ponded pasture and isolated islands of volcanic plug-mountains.
The Hedlow Creek wetlands are essential for bird breeding, provide a nursery area for fish species and freshwater and marine life, are recharging the water table, and are a cattle-grazing area.
Wetlands are vital for capturing freshwater flows and recycling sediments and nutrients before they enter estuarine systems, inshore waters and the Reef. The future prospects for the Fitzroy basin depend on the ability of people to ensure finding a balance between land and water use, and ecosystem health.
Photographer: Veronika Zeil
Dusty Cattle Yards
Artist: Lynelle Urquhart
Artist Location: Southwood
Medium: Digital photography, machine stitching & pastels, 2019
Dimensions: 21 x 28.5 x 0.3 cm
Artist Statement:
The old – cattle in the yards stirring up the dust, with the new – me on my mobile phone taking photos, checking for messages & looking at emails. Running a farm business office whilst doing cattle work on our mixed grain & cattle farm at Moonie on the Western Darling Downs. Queensland and Queenslanders are a diverse lot, comfortably mixing traditions with new ideas and just getting on with it!
This image mixes digital photography, edited & printed at home on fabric, sewn on my machine to highlight the steel yards, then drawn on with pastels. Trying to capture the incredible light of the afternoon.
Photographer: Lynelle Urquhart
Too much, too little, we are all at the mercy of water.
Artist: Emma Ward
Artist Location: GRACEMERE
Medium: Graphite, chalk, watercolour and ink on watercolour paper, 2018
Dimensions: 38.5 x 57 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
Inspired by a recent walk through the Rockhampton Botanical Gardens I discovered a path that winds closer to the road, there is a fence covered in ‘flood weeds’ a regional term for plants that have been uprooted and deposited as the flood waters carry debris which gets caught in the barbed wire fences. A poignant discovery, as the last flash flood was in 2017 and these remarkable waterlily remains were still clinging happily to the fence! In my mind, they were an example of the diverse and difficult nature of our landscape. As we constantly rotate through extreme changes in our weather conditions, experiencing years of drought, then bushfires, to extreme flash flooding, the landscape itself has adapted to take on the same personality as it’s people; tough and tenacious, we are all at the mercy of land in which we live, we ebb and flow depending on the weather.
Photographer: Emma Ward
Nasturtium
Artist: Tamlyn Geiger
Artist Location: Canungra
Medium: Watercolour, mixed media, digitisation printed onto lycra, 2019
Dimensions: 100 x 100 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
“My artwork ‘Nasturtium’ started as a watercolour, incorporated mixed media and comprises digitisation processes. An old-time style handwriting blends to give a worldly charm and continuity.
Canungra’s shared garden and our community of human personalities and interests is as diverse as the natural ecosystem. Withstanding drought and frost our State is like the community garden. To portray the “State of Diversity” in Queensland, did I choose Nasturtium or did Nasturtium choose me? I found the elements, massaged my processes and looked for what brings joy and fulfills purpose.”
Tamlyn Geiger creates artwork that evokes the beauty and organic rawness of Queensland. Artmaking is Tamlyn’s life: From a graphics background, Tamlyn’s full-time devotion to her craft has developed a freedom of expression that is evident in her surface designs.
Photographer: Tamlyn Geiger
Red Natal no.2
Artist: Jenny Neubecker
Artist Location: Waterloo
Medium: Graphite, pastel and collage on paper, 2019
Dimensions: 60 x 40 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
Queensland’s varied landscapes lay the foundation for a wide range of grass species. One species, common in coastal areas, is Red Natal. As graziers we value it for the contribution it makes to biodiversity on our property. As an artist I am inspired by the structure of the delicately, fine, feathery seeds that form in clusters on the heads of grass. En masse, paddocks of Red Natal swathe the landscape with rich burgundy reds that provide a striking contrast with neighbouring green pastures. Early stages of seeding produce rich, dark glossy red seed heads that fade to a soft pink as the seed heads mature, then are carried away in the wind.
Photographer: Jenny Neubecker
Red Thread
Artist: Janine Delgos
Artist Location: GYMPIE
Medium: Mixed media on board, 2019
Dimensions: 30 x 23 x 2 cm
Artist Statement:
Biodiversity is the thread that encompasses a large variety of all living things; the different plants, animals and micro organisms, the genetic information they contain and the ecosystems they form. We are all connected to this thread no matter how minute or diverse. How important is that thread? Extremely important!!! Australia’s biodiversity is under increased threat and has, overall, continued to decline. A small step towards maintaining a thread for me is the ability to express my passion for our precious environment and collect, document and record places I visit and create, in-situ, small artworks that reflect the diverse fragments in those spaces. Whether it be sketching, painting, rubbing, smudging, collecting, photographing or just sitting in these places, I maintain the thread.
Photographer: Janine Delgos
Serpentine
Artist: Alana Read
Artist Location: CAWARRAL
Medium: Watercolour on Arches cold pressed cotton rag 300gsm paper, 2019
Dimensions: 36 x 51 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
Near threatened, the “Pimelea Leptospermoides” shrub can survive only in the Serpentine Rock endemic to the Cawarral and Marlborough areas of Central Queensland, Australia. The opportunity to showcase this rare and uniquely Queensland plant located in my home town inspired me deeply. Through my chosen medium of watercolour, the fluid lines of the plant and accompanying rocks were conveyed in a sympathetic way. The colourful green and orange Serpentinite has distinctly dark textural lines, which I painted using my fingers and nails, by scratching and smoothing the wet paint across the paper. This cohabitants’ scene reflects the marriage of the lines and colour shared by the two in the artwork and also in the real life relationship between plant and its host in its natural environment. Endangered; Endearing; Enduring.
Photographer: Alana Read
Paradise Revisited
Artist: Jennifer Ryan
Artist Location: CAPTAIN CREEK
Medium: Digital collage, from my own acrylic paintings, 2019
Dimensions: 29.7 x 18.1 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
Jennifer M Ryan creates art for herself, that reflects on, and reveals aspects of life. When creating this digital collage her motivation was the personal cost of living in the pristine and private community of the Discovery Coast, Queensland .
An untrained artist, Jennifer was moved to create art when auto-immune diseases affected her movement. Her preferred style, for digital art, is to combine her acrylic/oil pastel/water colour/pen and ink works to create digital collages.
Paradise, tyranny, conflict and perfection:
1. Isolation in Paradise. Blue: surrounded by clean oceans and bright skies.
2. Tyranny of Distance. Yellow: mine site uniforms, Vs sunsets and coastline.
3. Tyranny of Caring. Grey: the opposite side of the paradise coin – obligations and responsibilities for protecting turtles and maintaining the pristine environment.
4. Conflicts in Paradise. Purple: the constant reevaluation of the practicality of living in paradise.
Photographer:
My Grandmother’s Country
Artist: Agnes Kohler
Artist Location: Gununa, Mornington Island
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2018
Dimensions: 120 x 101.5 x 5 cm
Artist Statement:
My Grandmother’s Country is on the back of Main Base at Bentinck Island – this is where the sun rises and the sun shines on all of us no matter where we come from and who we are.
Photographer: John Armstrong
Top of Town – Ipswich
Artist: Glen Smith
Artist Location: BUNDAMBA
Medium: Mixed Media – collage, 2019
Dimensions: 90 x 60 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
Brisbane Street Ipswich, “Top of Town” precinct has been home to my business for 11 years. With the theme of diversity for this exhibition I couldn’t go past what this street offers. Within 200 metres of my shopfront you can find such a diverse range of businesses, from op shops to high fashion, food banks to fine dining, Tattooist to Art Galleries, barbers to Day Spas and other retailers. Due to this wide range of shops it attracts a diverse clientele. We get every one from those who talk about themselves to those who talk to themselves, the window shoppers, mums dads, fashion icons, people trying to make a quick buck, the unfortunates and the wealthy. All which makes my day interesting and the not knowing of who will enter my door. In this artwork I have tried to capture the diversity of the people that I deal with daily.
Photographer: Glen Smith
Crying Art
Artist: Hediyeh Soleiman
Artist Location: HERVEY BAY
Medium: Gouache & watercolour, 2019
Dimensions: 38 x 38 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
Queensland, the state of diversity
A blend of the rich ancient Persian art mixed with the beauty and assortment of colours in majestic Australia’s landscape inspired me to introduce Persian illumination art. This form of ancient painting born in the early 15th century is now fading away from young modern memories. The diversity of our beautiful red soil, the deep blue ocean and the turquoise sky are united around the golden values at the core of our nation. This Crying Art is hoping to be seen by the younger generation and find its place once more in the eyes of art lovers.
Photographer: Hediyeh Soleiman
Embracing Azariah
Artist: Catherine Boreham
Artist Location: YEPPOON
Medium: Oil painting on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 61 x 61 x 3 cm
Artist Statement:
I believe that painting portraits gives me a great opportunity to encourage the viewer to move beyond simple tolerance and really see each individual as unique and valuable. I aim to inspire the viewer to celebrate the rich dimensions of diversity contained within each person they behold on the canvas.
One of Azariah’s favorite verses says, “Kind words are like honey, sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.”
With an attitude such as Azariah’s our differences wether they be gender, ethnicity, socio economic circumstances or religious beliefs would certainly be explored in a safe, positive and nurturing environment.
Azariah was very encouraged that I took the time to paint his portrait. Our states of diversity should be celebrated and this portrait is just one example of how I love to use artwork in a positive way to uplift others.
Photographer: Catherine Boreham
Memories of Sadako
Artist: Scarlet Burke
Artist Location: BRASSALL
Medium: Digital photograph of acrylic sheet, baking paper, plaster wall, 2018
Dimensions: 30 x 30 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
I recently went on a research trip to the Old Woollen Mills in North Ipswich as part of an exploration of local architecture, a place of rich history, cultural diversity, What was once a bustling mill, producing wool for Australian and allied troops for blankets and uniforms, providing income for local working-class people, is now reduced to crumbling decay. The decay is reflective of the war in which the wool was utilised most effectively. Interestingly, there is a lot of high-quality graffiti and street art covering walls, some of which include origami paper cranes. These paper cranes reminded me of Sadako, the little girl who developed Leukemia after the bombing of Hiroshima in WWII and whose mission was to make 1000 paper cranes as a symbol of peace. This artwork is a reflection on the diversity of people utilising the Mills over time and the impact of war.
Photographer: Scarlet Burke
Twist (view detail)
Artist: Netty Ferpozzi
Artist Location: BELLBIRD PARK
Medium: Found object sculpture, 2018
Dimensions: 32 x 82 x 12 cm
Artist Statement:
I walk pass the thirty-three brand new homes boxed in behind my house to get to my Ipswich suburban bushland.
The dog needs a walk and I am on the scrounge for dumped stuff.
I admire a rich green prickly pear nestled amongst forest debris, vast verticals of the eucalyptus trees and land galore the developers have yet to gobble up.
I spy a rusty mangled nugget; nature has become entwined with it. What event lead it to become so twisted? A twist in the road? Why did you have to discard it here?
I pluck it from obscurity. A twist of fate.
Photographer: Netty Ferpozzi
Meganoton rufescens
Artist: Therese Flynn-Clarke
Artist Location: BANNOCKBURN
Medium: Mixed media, hand stitching, eco dyeing, 2018
Dimensions: 75 x 55 x 0.02 cm
Artist Statement:
I have long had a moth obsession creating named species in 2D and 3D form for many years. Meganoton rufescens is a moth from the north Queensland region and references the story of the first 6 years of married life living in the Cairns region and the birth of our first child. I loved the diversity of the plants and insects so different from anything I’d known growing up in NSW. I had also taught on Thursday Island and the children introduced me to the native almond and its’ edible seeds. Today I have a native almond growing in my backyard in Logan. The leaves have been eco-dyed and hand stitched onto the mixed media background. 30 years of marriage this year and a long connection to the diversity of plants and insects in Queensland symbolised in many layers within this artwork.
Photographer: Therese Flynn-Clarke
Broken Gully
Artist: Pamela Walpole
Artist Location: Sunshine Beach
Medium: Mixed media on stretched canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 100 x 110 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
After the storm the farmer (bottom right hand corner) inspects his property – the red soil is soaked and will replenish the land, but farm implements lie scattered, signs dislodged – fences damaged – livestock to be found and an uprooted crossing now lies along a once dry creek bed.
A country life is hard work!
Photographer: Pamela Walpole
Bluefaced honey eaters
Artist: Debbie Dieckmann
Artist Location: MILLMERRAN
Medium: Watercolour, 2019
Dimensions: 55 x 45 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
I have been a creator all my life being raised in the bush by my mother who was an artist. I began my artist endeavours by painting and then created using different mediums for several years .In the last 6 years I have returned to painting and mixed media but in the last 10 months I have found a passion for watercolour and the wildlife in my bush community. For me watercolor best illustrates the fragility and subtly diversity of the bush, be it’s colours, delicacy of birds or fauna. Bush diversity is everywhere and is often overlooked as its subtle and changes with the seasons.
I am intrigued with my co inhabitants and try to record glimpses of their lives in my paintings. There’s over 238 birds, numerous marsupials and reptiles here so it’s going to be a long interesting journey without leaving home.
Photographer: Debbie Dieckmann
Lunch Mates
Artist: Mieke den Otter
Artist Location: BELLBIRD PARK, IPSWICH
Medium: Pastel on card and text, 2019
Dimensions: 29 x 41 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
As a painter and textile artist I am interested in developing ideas in response to new spaces.
In June 2019 as an Artist in Residence in an Ipswich Kindergarden, I spent some time drawing in the outdoor landscape. This sketch is one of my in situ pastel on card works. It is drawn from the playful and interactive spaces offered in kindergardens around the State of Queensland.
The act of drawing informs my art practice but is not always the destination.
Text accompanies the image and opens the ideas of nurturing diversity within an early childhood learning space with respect, freedom and play.
Hungry
hoods
Lunch
in boxes
on the
mat
Hungry
minds
Play
with buds
in the
garden
Growing
shapes
Forming
community
not far
from home
Photographer: Mieke den Otter
A Home for Birds
Artist: Rose Rigley and Barbara Dover
Artist Location: WHITFIELD
Medium: Book-based sculptural assemblage, 2019
Dimensions: 25 x 20 x 11 cm
Artist Statement:
The artist considered the theme ‘State of Diversity’ both geographically and psychologically. The resulting artwork was an exchange between two different individuals, with empathy, trust and an understanding of another’s location, the key to the collaborative outcome. Destruction or preservation became an integral part of creation, as each artist contributed to the beginning or end of the structure. Strategies of how to respond to ‘the object’, to letting go of concrete connections to place, and to the production of a ‘cohesive’ visual language were explored in the undertaking. Collaboration has, at its foundation, the idea of bringing diversity together through compassion.
‘A Home for Birds’ focuses on the impact that human inhabitation has on local wildlife.
Photographer: Rose Rigley
Wild Panorama 1
Artist: Andrea Baumert Howard
Artist Location: IPSWICH
Medium: Junk mail, newspaper, egg carton, office paper and recycled children’s craft paper pulp, 2019
Dimensions: 20 x 40 x 0.3 cm
Artist Statement:
When I think of Queensland’s diversity, I am immediately reminded of the huge variety of landscapes we have to explore. It is something intangible, it’s sort of a feeling, a memory, it is extremely difficult to depict in a 2-dimensional piece.
The gorgeous coastlines, rainforests, dry sclerophyll forests, deserts, mountain ranges, grasslands, and big skies. And of course, the farm lands, cattle property, cities, small country towns and tiny communities dotting these landscapes.
I have used a variety of recycled papers to create my landscape in paper pulp. Junk mail, newspaper, egg carton, office paper and recycled children’s craft paper make up the body of the scene. The fragility of the paper helps to convey the beauty and fragility of our environments and express the vastness of our state of diversity.
Photographer: Andrea Baumert Howard
Diffraction (view detail)
Artist: Alinta Krauth
Artist Location: WITHEREN
Medium: Digital mixed-media, 2019
Dimensions: variable
Artist Statement:
Drawing on the artist’s experiences as a digital-practitioner and nocturnal mammal surveyor in rural Queensland, ‘Diffraction’ is an interactive experience for mobile touchscreens that fosters playful aesthetic engagements between the user and nocturnal wilderness environments. In order to interact with the artwork, it requires the user to perform often surrealist, creative, or humorous tasks while outside in the dark, in order to allow for new understandings of nocturnal nonhuman others that they may come into contact with (animal, plant, and dark place).
Through this interactive artwork that includes animation, text, interaction, time, place, light, and sound, the artist hopes to question how we interact with diverse nonhumans in Queensland. Animals/plants in Queensland are currently experiencing an escalating extinction rate, and as such, it seems increasingly important to change our way of thinking about ‘diversity’ from human-centric, towards multi-species sociality, where the diversity of our animal/plant kin is celebrated and protected.
Photographer: Alinta Krauth
Sun Harness (view detail)
Artist: Joanne Taylor
Artist Location: BARCALDINE
Medium: Paper pulp, iron oxide, cotton thread, gold leaf, paper, cotton rag paper, ink, pencil, pencil, perspex, wood, dye, 2019
Dimensions: 50 x 36.5 x 14 cm
Artist Statement:
Queensland is the state of diversity with its vast coastlines, open flat interior and abundant resources. But one thing that unites us all in the ‘Sunshine State’ is indeed, the sun. It’s the binding factor that makes Queensland what it is. Sunlight energises the productive heart of our state and imprints our landscape such that we all benefit.
The repetition of “suns” in this sculpture represents the numerous but similar solar farms popping up in recent years in Central West Queensland, all doing their bit to power our lives and our future prosperity.
Increasingly, the iconic and quintessential Queenslander home many of us have spent at least part of our lives in, is now being powered by energy harvested from the sun.
Photographer: Donna Jedras
Wetlands Dry
Artist: Abramo Papp
Artist Location: RUSSELL ISLAND
Medium: Digital photograph, 2018
Dimensions: 22 x 36 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
It took me a few years of living on Russell Island to realise that wetlands are not always wet, sometimes they can actually dry out. These pictures of the wetlands at Burrows Street on Russell island were taken in September 2018 (wet – on left) and June 2017 (dry – right – mirror reverse). The two images were taken at about the same time of day an roughly from the same position (without stepping into the water 🙂 ).
Photographer: Abramo Papp
Fairy Tree
Artist: Helen Dennis
Artist Location: CHINCHILLA
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 61 x 76 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
On our property runs Branch Creek, which flows to the Condamine River, part of the Balonne catchment for the Murray Darling Basin. Our small creek has been a guide for Indigenous travellers visiting the Bunya Mountains, an area of vegetation and animal diversity in its wetlands, a place of lagoons where tall timbers grow, a source of irrigation for crops and domestic animals, and playground for all.
For our community the creeks are the mainstay of life. Without the creeks Indigenous travellers would not have moved through and camped, farms would not have been established, the railway would not have come, and modern townships would not be sustainable. Their waters are an essential element of life.
The roots of a majestic gumtree became the ‘Fairy Tree’ for our children, after a massive flood wore away its foundations, sending it tumbling across the creek and exposing its roots to the elements.
Photographer: Helen Dennis
Inclusive Diversity
Artist: Leigh-Ann Hargreaves
Artist Location: IPSWICH
Medium: Mixed medium- mostly acrylic, 2019
Dimensions: 80 x 100 x 5 cm
Artist Statement:
In creating Inclusive Diversity I used a diverse range of colours representative of Queensland soils and plants. Deep red fertile soil of Redland Bay and rich black soil of the Scenic Rim. North Queensland is represented in the lush greens and blues of the forests. Ochre reminded me of dry Western Qld and golden yellows for the sandy Coast. Queensland is a state of diversity of climate and conditions.
I have represented people of diverse cultures, ages and abilities. In painting the figures, I have used colour to represent diversity, not skin colour. We are richer for our differences. . Inclusivity makes our communities stronger, smarter, safer and richer.
I am promoting a state of tolerance and understanding where marginalisation no longer exists.
Photographer: Leigh-Ann Hargreaves
Determination
Artist: Grant Quinn
Artist Location: Bundamba
Medium: Photography, 2019
Dimensions: 55 x 55 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
Nothing shows more diversity than man-made and natural environments. The diverse elements of the two sometimes collide to make up the environment and communities that we live in. As cities and towns slowly spread out its urbanisation we are losing our beautiful and diverse flora and fauna. However, in some cases, our flora and fauna adjusts and evolves to survive in man-made environments. In this image I have capture a Fig Tree with its roots desperately clinging to the side of a brick wall. It is determined to survive in this cold hard eco system. The sprawling roots, twisted branches and minimalist leaves combined with the painted brick wall and cement edging create a stunning picture telling a story of determination and a will to survive against all odds.
Photographer: Grant Quinn
In the Check Out Lane
Artist: Anneke Silver
Artist Location: TOWNSVILLE
Medium: Acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 84 x 101 x 3.5 cm
Artist Statement:
I was searching for ways in which I could include many aspects of Diversity. I always enjoy watching the large racial and facial variety in the supermarket down the road; this became the idea to tackle the theme. It occurred to me that we are all in some way in the checkout lane towards shaping this state. There is a wide range of facial expressions and characters, which seem only loosely united, predominantly younger, as we are as a state. Most have their own agenda. They are only united by the predominant colour of the earth in our state –red ochre. I used the most natural and least manufactured drawing material, charcoal, to indicate the early stages of statehood that we are still in. I wanted the overall impression to be optimistic and energetic, regardless of the differences. I hope I managed to achieve that at least a little.
Photographer: anneke silver
Woven Together as One
Artist: Gail Meyer
Artist Location: NORTH ROCKHAMPTON
Medium: Watercolour on paper on board, 2019
Dimensions: 42 x 29 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
‘Woven Together as One’
It is a big State of excitement and assorted adventures.
The remoteness of the outback could be calling with lyrical images of dry red sandy plains, bush pubs and country hats instead of city briefcases. As well, bushland will beckon, with its differing associated range of wildlife.
A variance could be the distinctive ecosystem of wetlands and unique array of creatures including the crocodile.
The warp and weft of environmental and regional differences has to include the verdant, moist rainforests beaches that hold back the coral studded ocean.
My approach to such contrasts has been to paint the many differing visual narratives including the Queensland Emblems; Brolga, Blue Sapphire, Cooktown Orchids, Koala Anemone Fish. These were fixed onto a backing and topped with a rough weaving together of strips of watercolour images that loosely form the cross on the State badge
Photographer: Gail Meyer
Islands In The Sun
Artist: Wendy K Ford
Artist Location: MACLEAY ISLAND
Medium: Paints, dyes and resist on silk, 2019
Dimensions: 45 x 61 x 3 cm
Artist Statement:
Wendy paints on silks and textiles as The Silk Maid. After an exhaustive search she found her Utopia on an enchanting island. Dolphins, turtles, dugongs, stingrays and maybe even mermaids frolic in the emerald waters. Rainforests, sandy beaches, swaying palms, rocky foreshores and mangroves create a haven for wildlife and a diverse array of birdlife. Flowers and vegetables grow abundantly in the fertile soil. The ever changing colours of the waters, the glorious sunsets and the moonlight across the bay are an endless artists inspiration. At night the lights glow from boats in the cove as the beacons on the harbour blink red and green. In the far distance the lights of the mainland twinkle like a fairyland. The muse is never far away on this peaceful tranquil island. Nestled amongst a group of islands not far off the coast in this great and diverse State of Queensland.
Photographer: Wendy K Ford
Baby Lady Apple
Artist: Esmae Bowen
Artist Location: HOPE VALE
Medium: Screen printed ink onlinen, 2019
Dimensions: 120 x 100 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
My artwork is inspired by the forms and colours I see in the environment and my love of plants. When you see plants and you’re so down and out the beauty of that plant can lighten your day. A flower can put a smile on my face for the whole day. My favourite flower to paint is the baby lady apples (also called bush apples) at the time just before the flower grows into fruit. Lady apples only fruit in the early part of the wet season, and I love to paint them so much because they remind me of my childhood Christmases spent down at the beach with my family, where we used to like to eat them with salt.
Photographer: Melanie Gibson
Naked Gardening 3
Artist: Emma Thorp
Artist Location: DUNDOWRAN BEACH
Medium: Acrylic and coloured pencil on paper, 2019
Dimensions: 67 x 49 x 0.2 cm
Artist Statement:
Growing up in the barren and dry western suburbs of Melbourne and uncomfortable with my own body, I never would have imagined a day when I was wondering naked in a jungle like garden.
For the last 6 years I have lived just outside Hervey Bay, surrounded by old growth, thick greenery and air that just makes you want to breath deeply.
My lush garden, complete with bandicoots, monitors, pythons and possums, enables me to celebrate and accept myself in this beautiful little part of Queensland.
Naked gardening is an international day to celebrate gardening and the joy it brings. It’s not everybody’s cup of tea, but it is mine.
Photographer: Emma Thorp
Solastalgia
Artist: Bodhi Del Mar
Artist Location: MUDGEERABA
Medium: Archival 300gsm cotton rag photograph, 2019
Dimensions: 60 x 48 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
Nowhere is Earth’s current 7th mass extinction more apparent than The Great Barrier Reef. The science predicts a catastrophic 95 percent loss in biodiversity on the reef by the end of the century due to rising sea temperatures, increasing ocean acidity, pollution and over fishing. It is an environmental crisis caused solely by the pervasive anthropocentric notion of our human supremacy.
Painting the natural world directly on the human body allows me to explore the concept that we are indeed neither superior nor separate from nature. And if there is to be any hope, we need to heal this dire disconnection.
Photographer: Bodhi Del Mar
Head in the Sky
Artist: Beatrice Prost
Artist Location: TINBEERWAH
Medium: Hand carved unique original print on aluminium ed 1/1, 2019
Dimensions: 76 x 50 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
I am fascinated by the residual pockets of subtropical rainforest that still exist on the hinterland of the Sunshine coast. Those are so fragile survivors of a distant past now surrounded by Eucalypt forest and grazing lands. Using a monochromatic “Willow Pattern” blue design I hope to infuse a sense of attention to protect those remaining green islands of diversity. But above all, “Head in the Sky” glows and enchants us with its complex patterns of extraordinary generous abundant life.
Bridging the gap between the digital and material world, I design images based on my own photographic material. I carve the physical print by hand creating original bold contemporary artworks. Those irreversible marks vary from deep grooves to shallow etches on the surface. I work on paper or in this case on aluminium exploring a surreal often monochromatic world to transport the onlooker into a dreamlike reality.
Photographer: Beatrice Prost
Golden Hues
Artist: Jaine Jackson
Artist Location: GYMPIE
Medium: Acrylic mixed media, 2019
Dimensions: 58 x 58 x 3 cm
Artist Statement:
‘Golden Hues’ Encapsulates the rich colours of our diverse far stretching landscape. Where the ocean meets the coloured sands and estuaries bordered by mangrove flats. From ocean blues through our National Parks and forest darks to hinterland distant blues and misty hues through the Mary Valley and beyond. From fractured earth during droughts to flooded land when the Mary swells. Our city Gympie/gimpi sits on the banks with a golden history and some still to be found hidden under our streets.
Photographer: Jaine Jackson
Cactus Garden
Artist: Wendy Bache
Artist Location: MOUNT LOUISA
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 60 x 90 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
Painted in a park in Townsville, I was captivated by the funky shapes and colours of the cactus garden and how at home they are in the park, just a stones throw away from some rain forest within the same park.
I really think Townsville has the best of both worlds. It’s dry at times and lush, abundant and green other times.
I painted this en plein air, using acrylic paint in lots of layers. I feel that when you paint like this the energy of the area enters the art.
Photographer: Wendy Bache
Same, Same but Different (view detail)
Artist: Kate Roberts
Artist Location: IPSWICH
Medium: Perspex,copper, timber, resin, clay, plaster, concrete, 2019
Dimensions: 10 x 15 x 15 cm
Artist Statement:
Diversity – a range of different elements, materials, ideas and interpretations.
We, as people, are all the same on the inside yet so different on the outside, the same can be said for each of our own communities – same basic structure yet so diverse in what can be found in each town, city and community. Without the different people, groups and activities, which meet our unique needs and interests – there is no complete and harmonious state.
This work has a simple message, we are the same yet different: represented here by the same shape each made from different materials sitting harmoniously together.
The ideal state to be – same but different – the simplicity is in acceptance!
Photographer: Berlin Photography
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Artist: Vivienne Bryant
Artist Location: NAMBOUR
Medium: Acrylic, 2019
Dimensions: 31 x 91 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
I first arrived in Queensland from England in 1994.
Everything was so different and I loved it.
One thing that really struck me was the different styles of houses.
In England, large housing estates are filled with houses of only three or four different styles, but in Queensland, the system is totally different.
People buy a block of land and then choose a house to build on it, resulting in a great diversity of house styles made from a range of different materials.
Early settlers built Timber cottages, but in the 1960s, Brick became the building material of choice.
Now, Cement sheet has replaced Weatherboard, and Steel replaced Timber in house frames.
New homes are being built at a great rate, but sadly there still are many people who have no home, and sleep rough each night.
Photographer: Tony Bryant
Microcosm
Artist: Amanda Dickson
Artist Location: MAROOCHY RIVER
Medium: Oil paints on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 76 x 76 x 3.5 cm
Artist Statement:
I fell in love with the Great Barrier Reef years ago when I lived on Heron Island. My family and I continue to visit the reef almost every year, soaking up its vibrant beauty, above and below water. Snorkelling leaves me marvelling at the abundance of life around me, knowing I am only viewing a tiny part of the colossal 344 400 square km (70million football fields!). My painting highlights the extraordinary magnificence of the vast sprawl of the reef formations, although it depicts just a microcosm within the vast macrocosm. The viewer is invited to contemplate the beauty and immensity of this living entity which supports the highest diversity of life in any existing ecosystem. I hope people appreciate what a privilege it is to have this natural wonder of biodiversity at our doorstep, and understand it is our duty to protect it.
Photographer: Amanda Dickson
SCRIBBLY GUM WILD LIFE
Artist: Brian Hatch
Artist Location: CLEVELAND
Medium: Oil, 2019
Dimensions: 101 x 76 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
The diversity of Queensland’s flora and fauna is something unique to this state and country. There are many species of variegated eucalypt trees and one variety is called the scribbly
gum identified by the familiar iconic tracks left in the tree trunk by the moth larvae as it zigzags around.
In this painting I have used these scribbles made by the larvae to surreptitiously suggest and enhance images of our unique wild life hidden within the lines. When viewing these gum trees in the native bush it is possible to imagine all kinds of animals and bird images appearing in the diverse scribbles.
The blue background suggests the native blue gum found in many areas of Queensland. The zigzag tunnels on the trunk of a tree inspired this painting using ones imagination to perceive
various animal images hidden within the lines. There is a great diversity in the animal kingdom as suggested in this painting and the scribbly gum is but one species of diverse eucalypts found in the Queensland bush.
Photographer:
Swimming Upsteam
Artist: Jacqueline Sanderson
Artist Location: Coolum Beach
Medium: Pastel on paper, 2019
Dimensions: 120 x 69 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
Jacqueline Sanderson is a visual artist who has lived on the Sunshine Coast since 2007. Nature, people, and domesticity inspire Jacqueline and she describes herself as an eclectic artist and maker whose artwork is meaningful and good-natured. The interaction of others in forming memories and identity are common themes she considers in her artworks.
For the theme ‘State of Diversity’ I studied two women from different cultural backgrounds, one Sri Lankan, one Vietnamese who developed a unique friendship after meeting each other in their workplace on the Sunshine Coast. Together their friendship supports them both through joyous and difficult occasions, times when they liken their lives as two salmon swimming upstream-thus becoming their mantra. ‘Swimming Upstream’ is a celebration of female friendships and cultural diversity on the Sunshine Coast.
Photographer: Jacqueline Sanderson
In Flight (view video)
Artist: Gavin Lewis
Artist Location: EAST IPSWICH
Medium: Digital video, 2019
Dimensions: variable
Artist Statement:
In a recent flight to central Queensland I found myself transfixed by the diversity and complexity of the landscape.
Layering images one on top of the other reflects the different textures of the earth, the airplane itself becoming almost animal-like as it plunges towards its destination.
Photographer: Gavin Lewis
Hanging out the clothes
Artist: Sharon Hamill
Artist Location: BUDERIM
Medium: Acrylics, 2019
Dimensions: 101 x 76 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
Winter sun on the Sunshine Coast casts heavily patterns of light and dark. This afternoon sun painting tried to capture the diversity of sun and light with smooth of lawn and texture of the bush. The image tried to impart a snapshot in time in a rural setting in the coast
Photographer: Sharon Hamill
Elements Of Time
Artist: Peter Lawson
Artist Location: ARCADIA
Medium: Knifed oil on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 68 x 103 x 2 cm
Artist Statement:
I have captured the splendour and historical importance of Townsville and other communities around Australia and abroad all my career. I work from life with painting on location and Elements Of Time demonstrates the diverse qualities that make up the landscape I have represented.
I believe art should be definitive and communicative and the work of an artist is not to satisfy their own indulgences but to give a very clear and very effective message to the viewer. I often take students out into the environment and with them experience the diversity of that scene on that day. By combining unique styles and methods, we take time to get to know the subject and faithfully interpret each with authenticity.
I use light to add energy and life to paintings and bring the vision, imagination and message of the environment to canvas.
Photographer: Peter Lawson
Mob on the Move
Artist: Margaret Worthington
Artist Location: CALLIOPE
Medium: Watercolour and gouache on paper, 2019
Dimensions: 57 x 105 x 2 cm
Artist Statement:
I chose this painting to enter in the State of Diversity competition because it shows an interesting, diverse and rarely painted area of Queensland. Landscapes like the one depicted in watercolours are common and may be seen along much of the Queensland coast where there are mangroves and mudflats. A solitary rocky island is viewed over the salt pans at low tide. Wetlands both fresh and salty are found in these areas. A mob of very young pigs are shown cavorting on the salt pan moving over to the wetlands to feed. A Pied Cormorant is resting after a fishing expedition.
Photographer: M Worthington
Crazy weather we’ve been having
Artist: Nora Hanasy
Artist Location: ZIZLIE
Medium: Digital collage, 2019
Dimensions: 100 x 100 x 2 cm
Artist Statement:
Central Queensland is a land of constant change. One thing that really makes this place I call home extra unique is the weather.’Crazy weather we’ve been having’ is a phrase we use often here as a greeting. It binds all of us together. The heat of summer comes with cyclones and floods and when we are not under water the land is arid and dry with blackened trees as far as the eye can see. The winter fog turns everything eerie and white and the short but severe storms that come out of nowhere definitely get the blood pumping. These extreme and often devastating weather patterns are the cause of our ever-changing colors and textures of the CQ landscape. But it is this diversity that makes every moment here, exciting and beautiful.
Photographer: Nora Hanasy
Belonging Through Diversity
Artist: Tharusha Dias Mendis
Artist Location: BEECHMONT
Medium: Silk stich and ink on silk, 2019
Dimensions: 38 x 107.5 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
The mystery of this mountain is too beautiful, too powerful and too inexplicable for words. This is an unassuming mountain that holds all her living beings in her dreaming. She accepts every living thing in it’s entirety, whether it’s a native, weed, farm produce, wild animal, farm animal, local, visitor or immigrant.
She is the mother who holds us rooted in what is beautiful, what is true and connected to our own essence. Therefore diversity in this mountain is intentional, never insisted but a natural part of belonging. In this mountain nobody is superior, nobody is inferior and most importantly nobody is equal either. In this mountain everything is unique and incomparable hence everything contributes to their potential to life. She helps us remember our way and liberates us to be naturally wild. Her magic, mystery, whispers and secrets keeps us mountain folk forever in wonder.
Photographer: Tharusha Dias-Mendis
Honeymoon Bay (Moreton Island, Queensland)
Artist: Elena Suto
Artist Location: Regents Park
Medium: Oil on canvas, 2018
Dimensions: 76 x 91.5 x 3.5 cm
Artist Statement:
Between the rocky Cape Moreton and North Point lies Moreton Island’s picture perfect Honeymoon Bay. Looking like something from a movie, the hidden picturesque half-moon shape beach is about 50 meters wide, making it the perfect spot for a refreshing swim. Honeymoon Bay is the most famous of the four small pocket beaches near Cape Moreton. Honeymoon Bay is hard to miss whilst exploring the island. When my family and I first visited this location in December 2007, we were absolutely taken by this beautiful secluded location.
Photographer: Elena Suto
Community Contrast
Artist: Linda Forrester
Artist Location: STRATHDICKIE
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 45 x 60 x 1.8 cm
Artist Statement:
Our suburbs and houses can take on a familiarity that can become monotonous, yet each home is subtly different and each house contains unique individuals. Unique in race, ethnicity, skill base, socio-economic status, physical abilities, age, religious and political beliefs, or ideologies. Each person surrounds themselves with others who compliment them and share their culture, creating their own unique jewel within their community.
Each culture is deserving of understanding, acceptance and respect and can be shared, encouraged and celebrated. We are the diverse communities of Queensland.
Photographer: Linda Forrester
“One Size Fits”
Artist: Kerry Williams
Artist Location: WEST MACKAY
Medium: Textile and acrylic paint on paper, 2019
Dimensions: 50 x 57 x 1 cm