Karluk - Place of Fire

As much of the country went up in flames during the summer of 2023, so did my life as I knew it. The ultrasound looked like an exploding asteroid spewing multi-coloured flames inside my body.

Suddenly, the colour palette in my mind shifted from the subtle, calming tones that represent my spiritual connection with boodja, to an all-consuming explosion of fierce, bright, chaotic flashes of angry colour. I needed to paint but I was too anxious and restless to brush paint. The randomness of paint pouring appealed to the chaos of my mindset and allowed me the freedom of expression to go crazy with colour. This, in turn, helped me to process and take on the challenges ahead.  

In some of the artwork, you can almost hear the roar of the flames symbolic of my anguish from within. But fire can be cleansing and symbolic of the release of lingering emotional restraints.

After fire comes renewal. The images in this section become less angry as I worked through my emotions, eventually settling into a sort of abstract calmness – acceptance perhaps…