Winner, Napier Waller Art Prize 2020

2020
yarn, recycled waste fabric
183 x 183 x 18 cm

Artist statement

There have been times when I didn’t want to communicate. I didn't want to admit to the difficulties I had encountered. I felt I didn’t have the language to describe the sense of shame that I could neither name nor admit to experiencing.

Alienation is the idea at the heart of this artwork, expressed from my personal experience.

Its inspiration comes from the blue and yellow maritime signal flag, Kilo, which has the meaning “I want to communicate with you.”

The act of making this oversized signal flag is a declaration that I wish to leave the messiness of the past behind me. It’s time to pick up the loose threads and broken relationships, be they personal, societal or institutional.

The dimensions of the work mirror my height and arm span to create an unorthodox self-portrait.

The materials used are unapologetically crude, gathered while I had an opportunity between a period of quarantined self-isolation after returning from Korea, and the subsequently imposed national lockdown. We tell our stories with what we have, not with what we hope that we might have.

Yarning is where we connect. To listen and understand. The Furphy wagon. The familiarity of mates.

Comms check.