"My work celebrates inspiring images of women standing in, emerging from, or swimming through water. They are strong, beautiful, resilient, free, and, above all, appreciated."
I was born in a tiny dusty town called Wudinna in South Australia in 1972. This was a time and culture where women weren't allowed in the local pub and were expected to quit work when they got married. Intellectual pursuits and art were scoffed at, and women were supposed to get married and have children, and that was it!
So after a diversion into a "sensible career" and motherhood, I returned to my childhood love of art. I was conceptually trained through the South Australian School of Art in 2012 with a Bachelor of Visual Art, Specialisation Painting. During my studies, I fell in love with paint and its glorious applications, and I particularly enjoyed my street art and print-making classes. This turned into a love of stencil-making and incorporating action painting techniques with acrylic paint, from which I created my unique style. I won the UniSA Medal for my outstanding academic and artistic results, and in 2013, my artwork was selected by top South Australian art-aficionado's, including the then Director of the Art Gallery of South Australia, Nick Mitzevich (now director of the National Gallery of Australia), to participate in The Helpmann Academy Graduate Exhibition - an incredible honour for any SA graduating tertiary art student.
Fast forward to today, after almost 30 years of living remotely in the Northern Territory, I work as an underwater photographer and painter from my home studio in Fish Creek, Victoria. I have participated in many group and solo shows. My artwork is in private collections in New Zealand, The United States, Switzerland, Germany, China, and Australia. I was selected as a Finalist in the 2013 Royal South Australian Society of Art Portrait Prize and as a Finalist in the 2021 Bluethumb Art Award. From May to June 2024, I fulfilled a two-month residency in Germany; my first international solo show followed that. I was also selected as a Finalist in The Percival Photographic Portrait Prize in June 2024 for my beautiful underwater photography.
I paint the female figure in unique, bold poses so women can confidently celebrate freedom and live braver lives. Through drips and splashes of paint, I evoke freedom. I use vibrant colours and a stark contrast to communicate confidence. The underwater world offers an other-worldly, nurturing, healing, and freeing space for my women to explore. Here my women are free from restraint, free to be who they want to be - all the things we wish for our daughters.
My underwater photographs of women embrace the genre of illusionistic realism - showing the accurate depiction of lifeforms, perspective, and the details of light and colour with my otherworldly yet realistic photographs. Time and form are suspended, the filtered light shifts colours, shapes and shadows, creating beautiful reflections. The most amazing thing about being underwater is that the rest of the world disappears for a while. There are no distractions or stress - just quietness. My overall feeling: freedom.
I am inspired by strong women who have difficult stories and, despite the odds, have an outlook of integrity and courage. My mission is to uplift women with my art – this is the engine that fires my entire practice.
Thank you for your interest in my work!