300 and Counting
Printed ink and painted acrylic sheet on a stretched canvas 760 x 760 x 40
A 2021 report by BirdLife Australia and Charles Darwin University shows that there are now 216 threatened birds in Australia compared to 195, ten years ago.
The subject of my work is one of these birds – the Regent Honeyeater.
Flocks of Regent Honeyeaters once roamed from Rockhampton to the southern suburbs of Melbourne. My work’s title and composition reflect the impact of habitat loss and climate change on this once prolific and stunning bird.
With around 300 of these critically endangered birds in the wild, I have identified the bird as potentially crucified on a deeply charred timber cross, surrounded by an uncertain environment. Foreboding greys countered by the optimism of emerging green habitats and blue sky.
Conservation action has proven to slow and reverse these events but reversing environmental damage in all its forms must be confronted and sustainably well-funded.
If not, the “300” counting will continue to decline.
In 2017, Angie Thurston and Casper de Kuile published their “How we Gather”.
They claimed “Millennials are less religiously affiliated than ever before”. This doesn’t mean they don’t believe in a God, but rather they are looking for a “faith community” rather than an institution with “religious creed as the threshold”.
In my work I have chosen Facebook as representative of the new affiliations, and the books of the Old and New Testaments as examples of the history and richness of world religions.
Through this work I hope to promote conversations around what future religious affiliations might be.
Could partnerships between Religion and Technology recover the loss of community and respect and create a new global DNA of spiritual growth, purpose and social transformation, or will the addictive technology spells under which many have fallen continue to guide the broader society into a further fragmented world?
The Gospel According to St Mark
Printed ink and painted acrylic sheet on a stretched canvas 760 x 760 x 40
Thanks for spending your life caring for others - now go and sleep in your car
Acrylic, pen and mixed media on a stretched canvas
1010 x 760 x 40
The title of my work comes from Australian author and social commentator Jane Caro. It is blunt but real. It is emotional and simple. The images represent the families and their legal and financial advisors driven by indifference, greed and loathing. Up to 14% of older Australians may be subject to abuse each year according to the Australian Institute of Family Studies.
My passion behind this issue has been developed and informed from the information I have received as a non-executive director of the Australian charity “Seniors Rights Service” (SRS). SRS is a community organisation dedicated to protecting and advancing the rights of older people, particularly vulnerable and disadvantaged groups.
Through this artwork I want observers to realise the imbalance in relationships is significant and frequent. If some recoil from viewing it, this is a reaction I want. I hope some find it disturbing, offensive and intimidating.
The foundations and dynamics of elder abuse are very complex, but I have chosen to show it for what it is – people with influence doing what is horribly wrong.