Songlines
2023 - 2024
Songlines (2024) brings together Peta West’s fourth body of work. Expansive monochromatic prints for which West is renown, are exhibited alongside new artistic directions, including drawings on paper and watercolours. Once more we are invited into landscapes imbued with meaning and exploding with life. Viewing the works, it is clear that not only does this exhibition showcase an expansion of West’s practice into new mediums and subject matter, but also her most refined monochromatic works to date.
In 2023, West journeyed to the Northern Territory, a trip which inspired many of the exhibited works. Moving away from the South Coast of NSW, Halcyon Song (2024), This is Jawoyn Country (2024) and Scared Shelter(2023) were opportunities for West to consider new subject matter; the flora and fauna endemic to Australia’s interior. What we see are entirely new ecosystems and landscapes that speak to the diversity of life supported in this vast country.
This exhibition also marks a returned interest in colour, an element West has previously dabbled in. The works from this exhibition: Sacred Shelter (2023), Kaarak (2024)and Barraya (2024) incorporate watercolour in a way that allows West to stay true to her style of linoleum print making. The carving is simplified so that the watercolour acts as the mid tone range. The results are striking. Greens, blues and yellows are effervescent against the monochrome. Whilst the overall compositions are simplified, they remain captivating. Rather than being drawn in to a work, it seems as though the flora and fauna are reaching out to meet us.
