This work is part of Tiarna Herczeg’s latest series of paintings Salt Air on Skin: On Stillness, Colour, and Feeling Whole. Herczeg says, “This work holds a memory passed down — one that speaks to survival, silence, and the quiet strength of a child navigating a world shaped by violence. The title refers to a moment in my great grandfather’s life, a Butchulla man, who once found safety beneath the surface — under a lilypad- in an act of instinct.”

Herczeg is a proud Kuku Yalanji and Hungarian woman and artist who aims to share her experience of dual identity through storytelling. Her vast planes and expressive compositions symbolise how she sees the land, whilst her palettes are tied to her inner psyche and physicality, her spirituality and feelings; one exists in perpetuity and the other only exists for a moment in time.