Curatorial+Co. is delighted to present an enchanting new body of work by Ingrid Daniell in our Woolloomooloo gallery. Exploring themes of time, deep time, awe, spirituality, and our instinctive need to connect with nature, Daniell’s work serves as both a meditation and a response to the environmental crisis. The landscape is her constant muse, a symbol of resilience and fragility, and a lens through which she processes climate anxiety.

Says Daniell of her latest body of work, “My paintings start long before I enter the studio. They begin in the moments I spend immersed between the landscapes of my two homelands in Wadawurrung Country on Victoria’s Surf Coast, and in Pyemmairrener Country on the east coast of Tasmania. I actively avoid working en plein air or from photographs as I’m not trying to mirror what I am engaging with, instead I am representing how I feel when I am in the environment.

“The Paradox of Awe marks a new phase in my life—one that differs from my last series which was created through a transition of change and grief. In this series, rather than paintings of the night sky, I have chosen to represent daytime scenes that capture the feeling of awakening that is experienced in a sunrise, and the rejuvenation of its rays warming your back. I explore the paradoxical nature of awe: the ephemeral; sublime moments in nature that simultaneously inspire hope and fear; strength and fragility; insignificance and transcendence.

“Ultimately, my work seeks to evoke awe as a transformative emotion; one that offers space for reflection, belonging, and connection. It is a call to remember our place within nature’s intricate and fragile web, to hold both the heartbreak and the wonder, and to find meaning in the moments where time, memory, and the land converge.”