We cannot see the wood for the trees. We build abstracted layers to shield us from the view of the damage we are doing to the environment around us.  Do we notice what is around us or is our appreciation of our natural environment only piqued when there is disaster?

give me shelter is an exhibition of screenprints based on the images of scapes that were noticed, and interesting enough that picture was taken – without people in it.

In that moment the environment was captivating enough for the person with a phone or digital camera to take a picture and not make themselves or anyone else the centre of that landscape.

We take the picture, create a memory and move on.  In the real world we have a nostalgic sense of ourselves within that environment.  The changes that occur to that captured scape is out of sight and mind, and missed.  But the environment is screaming for us to take notice.

These images weren’t taken specifically for this exhibition. When artist Paula McLoughlin spoke about her intentions for this exhibition, some were offered up, and some come from her own pictorial history.

They started as personal pictures that marked points in time with places and with that in mind, McLoughlin wanted to draw a focus to the separation that we as humans create with our environment.

By deconstructing the images, distorting the focus and putting in visual barriers, McLoughlin wanted to extend a sense of the separation created and confuse the point of focus.  Can you see what is behind the visual barrier or only focus on the barrier? The titles are familial calls to attention – it’s not about sudden immersion but having sustained contact.