The Unearthing of Woman

Join us for the opening reception on Wednesday 9 April from 5:30-8pm.

Curatorial+Co. is thrilled to present a new body of work by Sydney-based oil painter, Katrina O’Brien. Register your interest below to receive an exclusive preview.

Says O’Brien of her latest exhibition, “The last few years saw me knee-deep in mud, fast sinking and eventually in some kind of dark space. I’d been through a series of experiences where I nearly lost myself, but I knew I needed to protect a part of myself. There were seeds that I carried in a small box with me, through those dark times; seeds of things I wanted to keep safe and grow if I ever got the chance to live again.

“One of those seeds was thoughts of a daughter. I’d dreamed of her since I was in my twenties. I can recall those dreams vividly; she was always curious, light and strangely intelligent. Over the years, it was the same child appearing. She was patient with me as if I was the child—like she was trying to teach me something, but I just couldn’t see it yet.

“The works oscillate between the micro and macro structures of the universe—depicting atoms and photons, to a gathering of constellations and nebulae. Some works step so far inwards, to the beginning of life in the womb.

“The rippling lines offer reverberations through time, space, and water. They are inertia from my body, moving and building as I terraform. They are diagrams of physics, marks of topography with latitudinal and longitudinal lines—a mapping of the body and mind. I have always wondered what it would feel like to leave my body for a day and float among the universe.

“And so, here I find myself at some kind of ancient gate, the gravitational pull accelerating me into new territory. A finite body reaching for the infinite. A mother become. A woman unearthed.”