Thea Anamara Perkins: Atherreyurre.: N.Smith Gallery

'There was an increasing cognisance of memory as an agent in the process. I tend to view myself as a conduit, so it is interesting what what traces of myself indelibly find their way into the works...'

‘Atherreyurre’ is a deepening of my work with this subject, I wanted to challenge myself with a sustained focus. As a body it articulates the passage of light over the course of a day. The works became at once temporal and atemporal. 

This interaction of dichotomies found its way elsewhere. The flow of light and shadow echoes the mutable and the eternal qualities of country - that then find their way into the interplay of lush and flat strokes, the contrast of sedate and energetic. Like the sporadic but powerful coursing of the river through the site, or the spring sleeping perennially under its dry bed. 

I think these notions really found another kind of expression in the digital work, which used ai to imitate the flow and slip of paint, joining these works in a way that we do innately in person, anticipating the trajectories of brushstrokes. 
It seeks to resist reductive notions of the desert and express the breadth of colour and flora. 

It is an examination of the subliminal magnetism of this subject for me. Contemplating this fixation, I see this return to subject in central desert painting as well as a return to this place within my family. 

There was an increasing cognisance of memory as an agent in the process. I tend to view myself as a conduit, so it is interesting what traces of myself indelibly find their way into the works. Stripping back the overly conscious gestures allows the greater scope of what the work itself wants to do.

 Working on it is also a contemplation of the wider history of this place, how our lives ripple out. There are big lives and stories that belong to Mparntwe, densities that distribute, are concentrated and overlap. 

Atherreyurre is a nexus not only for my engagement and connection to Country, but to think about its history. When naming these works, I have used ‘Station’ as in Telegraph Station, ‘Bungalow’ as it is known to locals and now it’s original name ‘Atherreyurre’ - all reflecting the courses of history like the river. 

Since painting this place, I have heard so many more stories about the connection of others to it. 

I find there is always a process of examining, resisting, or understanding subtle orthodoxies in painting especially when using a Western vernacular. Awareness allows freedom, as well as insight into how information is absorbed and transmitted. 

It was also interesting on a technical level to really push my practice further, and see the implications of the first part of my residency in the work; it is an evolving thing but every juncture has its own inquiry. Colour was a big avenue of exploration in this series but also rhythm and transparency.