Amanda Schunker

The rawness of the geological landscape has captivated abstract artist Amanda Schunker ever since she first set foot on Australian soil, at the impressionable age of 8. As a Chinese, Anglo-Indian immigrant, identity has been a strong driving force.

It is the non-denominational platform of the natural world that has been her muse in which to inquire about the human condition and our place within it. Our interconnectedness.

A portal of en plein air works are integral to her practice, to be deconstructed and turned on their head back in the studio. She says “It is working partly through process, intuition and recall that a rhythm builds momentum. Marks are put down, a dialogue emerges, until something of what one was grappling for is intrinsically revealed. A Sense of Place.”

Amanda’s multi-disciplinary approach of mark making and colour is inherent from her background in textiles. With a BA in Textile Design at RMIT, she worked under the influence of revered artists David Band and Yvonne Audette. Today she lives in Bayside Melbourne and regularly exhibits both locally and interstate. Recently she was a finalist in the Fisher Ghost Prize and won the SBS Landscape Prize in 2020.