Sophie Perez // Artist Statement

From the Aboriginal spiritual and cultural perspective ‘your Country’ or ‘your place’ is pivotal to who you are. This has always been a conflicting idea for Sophie being born and having lived the first half of her life in Britain and now residing in Australia. Sophie’s practise has always explored this concept of place and displacement through paintings.

After travelling to the East MacDonnell ranges last year Sophie began to understand the lure and pull of truly connecting with place. Surrendering to the calm and profound power of the place.

‘Accepting the Love, warmth, solace, strength, peace ,protection and respite the land offers’.

Through her love of colour and mark making, the paintings and drawings retell this visceral response of being in Country. Spending time working outdoors and observing the effect colour has on the emotional and physical self, exploring how this response goes beyond the senses.

The scale of the works enables the movement to be transferred through the brush. Painted with the whole body, inviting the viewer to question what is literally observed and what cannot be observed, the feeling and soul of a place. Combining imagery with the story that other people will create by travelling this journey.

These series of paintings and drawings from night and day are a moment in time of being truly immersed and connected to nature.