The concept of this artwork draws and builds from ideas addressed at the recent exhibition at GOMA ‘Air’ as well as Ken and Julia Yonetani’s Exhibition at the QUT Art Museum ‘To Be Human’. In thinking about my relation to Country, residing on Turrbal and Yuggera Country, I wanted to consider what is something in which we all share. Furthermore, as a Wagiman woman, my processes are inherently informed by Indigenous Ways of Knowing, Being and Doing and the scientific knowledges that exist within our methods of story-telling. Much like what Chris Saines stated in a conversation with Maddison Miller, Professor Lidia Morawsk, and Geraldine Kirrihi Barlow, whilst air is something in which we all share, the quality of the air we breathe varies significantly depending on many factors. Sometimes, the air which we breathe can feel suffocating, especially as we experience the effects of the climate crisis and global pandemic and it can feel like our goals and dreams are unrealistic and unattainable. Part of my own artistic journey which has led me to opportunities like this one, has involved assisting the local art community at my workplace Eckersley’s. ‘The Sky is the Limit’ therefore stands to uplift the community’s aspirations and dreams but also reflect the vibrancy of the people who I have met. Through the use of vivid colours and through a surrealistic approach I chose to blur the reality between the boundaries of the crushing weight of the ocean and the weightless night sky, by depicting jellyfish, floating towards a bright blue sky amongst the stars. The ocean itself is a mysterious yet crushing force of nature, it is perplexing that anything, especially jellyfish, survive. The artwork ‘The Sky is the Limit’ much like the way the jellyfish appears to defy the laws of physics, stands as a metaphor for the potential of reaching our dreams and aspirations.
