The autobiographical nature of my work deals with the space between the innocence of childhood and the wisdom of adulthood. I explore the complexities of personal experience, old and new landscapes and the scar tissue of memory. The work deals with beginnings and departures, relationships and conflict of power and vulnerability in the quest to make sense of life. My work connects with moments of childhood that I try to retain as a touchstone for authentic experience. The images are derived from personal and familial experiences, moving through to the universal to tell the human tale, using the human body as a metaphor. The body becomes the subject matter for expressing ideas about our universal and personal concerns. I explore the gulf between the real and the unreal through examining themes such as identity, vulnerability, anxiety, fear, alienation, abandonment, loss, corruption of innocence, love and death within a contemporary urban framework. These emotions are played out against the backdrop of daily domesticity and reflect the physical reality of the world around us, often exposing the contrast between the orderly veneer of our daily lives and our emotional reality. My work methodology uses narrative found in books, films, fairy tales or fables to explore the conflicting emotions which structure human identity and interaction. I use the stories as a way of approaching ideas or emotions and exploiting the story as a focus of cultural knowledge. In the search for emotional truth I draw parallels between my art practice and the search for authenticity within the theatre. My work is an attempt to explain my own creative process in relation to the artists who have influenced me, my childhood, its rich tradition of storytelling and my passion for theatre and literature as well as a search for meaning in my own relationships and life's journey. This is conveyed through a series of paintings and works on paper.

The relationship with nature through art has been explored as a two fold bond. The first considers a relationship with nature via art and science, where the history and contemporary application of scientific illustration in art is explored; while the second explores past and present connections with nature via art and the landscape, particularly the panoramic tradition. Historically these relationships have predominately been about dominating nature, mans dominion over the land. Science was seen as the only authority, while our relationships with the land in art, positioned the viewer at a commanding distance above and over the land, as seen in the post colonial panoramic tradition. In contrast, -The Coorong Series- explores a lived history with nature rather than the historical role of dominance. -The Coorong Series" explores a relationship of knowledge, understanding, and the experience of nature; through two parts. The first combines art and science in -The Coorong Specimen Series', to explore the facts and knowledge that science has provided about certain plants, birds and marine life from the Coorong. Inspiration has been derived from 19thC scientific illustrations and the lyrical prints of the Coorong by Australian Artist John Olsen. Part two explores the immersive experience of the iconic landscape in ???The Coorong Landscape Series" providing a relationship that seeks to understand the functionality of the location and to celebrate the unique beauty of this diverse region. Inspiration has been gained from the landscapes by l8th and 19th C artists John Constable and Claude Monet, along with landscapes by contemporary artists, John Walker and Mandy Martin. Through aesthetic notions such as scientific illustration, panoramic landscape, immersive scale, the collection of work, an expressionistic use of paint, and labeling of each piece like a museum display. -The Coorong landscape series" provides an exploration of a region that immerses the viewer in an experience of the location. The series portrays a relationship with nature through art that educates the viewer about The Coorong region. Connections are made between the land, birds, plants, fish, and human interaction; which results in an ecological consideration of the Coorong. Ultimately it is the educational experience that art provides allowing the viewer to explore a plethora of relationships within nature, and to explore how these relationships have changed or continue to exist within this era.

Thesis (M.C.A.-Res.)--University of Wollongong, 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references: leaf 34-35.