BODIES AND WATER

The human body and bodies of water have a lot in common.

 

Whether they are stagnant, abrupt or crashing through, both still possess an innate capacity to reclaim themselves; to return to flow state. There is a gentle force within that, over time, will quietly carve through.

 

For Saira Ellen K. Spencer, bodies and water are sanctuaries where one can rest, reflect and regenerate; they are places and symbols of safety, refuge and repair.

 

For this exhibition, Saira responds to this idea. Using her signature muted metallic, black, grey and flesh tone palette, including the introduction of eumelanin-esque umbers, olive undertones, bruise-purples and sunburned siennas, to cement her creative relationship with these places.

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Across 13 works, she alchemicalises states of mind into rivers, earthquakes into skin folds, scorched earth into fertile minds, thoughts into flowers and post-bushwalk feelings into bold, gestural paint strokes.

 

Each piece has been created in collaboration with the natural world. The forms within and textural fluidity of each painting have been directly informed by Great Southern’s infamously mercurial weather patterns and by the shape, movement and manipulation of rainwater and medium.

 

They invite you, too, to find and revel in your own small pocket of respite once you return to the shallows after going off the deep end.

 

We'll meet you there.