Georgia Thurston
Danebank - An Anglican School for Girls
BIRDHOUSE AVIOTIQUE
Drawing
Graphite on paper
My body of work examines my personal experience of moving countries. I have had to dismantle, re-shape and build up my life again, making it a jumble of identity, culture and expectations. My work combines aesthetics and conventions to explore how I’ve constructed identity from influences such as memories, people, language or the environment. The birds represent my struggle with these changes; they migrate and travel, yet they grow and are nurtured in a stationary nest. Representing these different houses as travelling machines expresses how my ‘nests’ have had to become mobile in order to meet my changing identity.
My artmaking practice has been influenced by the study and interpretation of the following artists: Shaun Tan, Salvador Dali, William Kentridge.
Marker's Commentary
Birdhouse Aviotique is a quirky, whimsical and imaginative interpretation of life and family. Highly inventive in establishing a visual motif, the narrative parallels the idea of building one's identity and constructing links to ‘home’ through the enduring metaphor of the bird by virtue of its migratory nature and constant search to construct and establish a sense of place. Sophisticated and accomplished in its material handling, the layered compositions, shifts in scale. The refined vignettes of exquisite detail, achieved through the skilful tonal rendering of forms, demonstrate an informed knowledge of compositional devices and curatorial strategies to entice an audience. The playful idiosyncratic representation of each anthropomorphic creature achieves a rich dialogue which is furthered by discernible references to established artists and stylistic traditions.