‘Fragile States’ describes a parallel notion of fragility with respect to the state of our current natural environment and my own personal experience during a period of relocating to Australia after almost two decades abroad.
These works address the duality experienced both in a cultural and linguistic sense, and also within the landscape I inhabit. In this time of displacement and dislocation, my experiences were charged with sentiment, vulnerability, and a sensitivity to change. It was a period of introspection, weighing up what would be lost and gained and bearing witness to the closure of a chapter in my life. Now, in Australia I am challenged by new places of personal significance in my local area such as wide coastal perspectives and waterfalls. My work is concerned with the rhythms in nature and the importance of treading lightly on this borrowed land.
In this exhibition, I work in the techniques of Stone Lithography and Mokulito, because there is a flow between the process, materials and image making. Lithography offers me a very direct way of making painterly marks within printmaking and carries with it a rich gamut of tones and textures such as reticulated washes and wood textures which mirror forms also present in nature. I walk and observe places while making quick sketches that later serve to situate myself back there with the movement, sounds and sensibilities. Back in the studio, I work on the matrix of stone or wood in a visceral manner creating a new landscape which taps into the feeling of being in that place.’ – Danielle Creenaune, November 2020
