Jasmine Mowbray

Says Jasmine Mowbray of this work, "I accumulated photographs of transitional landscapes such as rubble, weeds, fences, and empty plots of land in the Sydenham/Marrickville area surrounding my studio. I enjoyed how the grid of the construction fence sat in contrast with the untamed weeds in the surroundings, determined to grow through the slabs of concrete and rubble.

"This material evolved into unexpected shapes in the studio. The green flames and lights bring a third element, maybe a sense of procession or ritual to the work."

Mowbray's paintings are built through slow acts of layering, scraping, staining and removal; oil, acrylic, pumice, and mixed media absorb into or resist the surface, positive and negative space continually exchanging roles. Construction grids become supports for climbing weeds; reflections collapse sky and earth onto a single surface. Many forms surface through pareidolia — the mind's tendency to find images within ambiguity — arising not from a preconceived end, but from the process itself. Rather than referencing a particular place, the paintings construct landscapes assembled from experience, imagination and accumulated looking.