Not for very much longer explores the impermanence of life and humanity.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

My artists I studied this year were Rick Amor, Peter Tankey, and Jeffery Smart. Their works explore isolation and weary urban spaces, creating a sense of unease through dull colour palettes and deep, somber tones. I incorporated these similarities into my own work to emphasise the eerie confrontation of our mortality I explore within my series.

Music was a big inspiration to set the spirit of my work. From the beginning of my development, I created a playlist to return to allow me to refocus on what mood I wanted to portray. Some notable songs were Pink Floyd’s ‘Time’, Red Hot Chilli Pepper’s ‘Wet Sand’ and Radiohead’s ‘How to Disappear Completely’. These songs not only shared similar themes of time, evanescence and isolation, but also were sorrowful and dejected in tone.

My own artistic practice heavily tied into my development process. Not only does it grant a meaningful and fulfilling escape from a stressful and busy world, especially in year twelve, but it also allowed to see in a new perspective, learning to love the dejected and ugly urban spaces I paint. This is why my intention is to warn humanity to slow down and appreciate our limited moments, as I have learned to do.

What materials and processes did you use?

For my series, I utilised a range of traditional oil painting techniques. One of the first steps in my painting process is using a ground, an initial layer of colour. For these pieces I used a warm ground to harmonise the colours, but also to create a subtle glow as it shows through the layers above. I used alla prima (or wet-on-wet) for softer textures, such as the imposing clouds created through swooping gestural brushstrokes, or the smooth, blended shine of the metal cowls. Glazing was extremely important as a final transparent layer, as it helped deepen shadows and create depth, and add grungy texture to show the weathering and aging of the materials.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

The most challenging aspect of creating this series was the scale I chose to work on, and the number of paintings I chose to do. I found myself staying after school multiple times a week, working during spare periods and lunch times, and even at home. And while my back protested the long hours hunched over an easel, it allowed me to create an ambitious project I’m happy to say I’m proud of.

Birds and People explore the ways birds interact with one another and how these behaviours mirror human actions. This idea is expressed through intuitive painting, bold colour choices, and dynamic line-work. Each composition develops spontaneously, shaped by mood and the environment around me, resulting in an expressive, semiabstracted series. Each panel holds its own presence while contributing to a larger narrative of energy and behaviour. I encourage viewers to first take in the works, then move closer to observe the layered textures and expressionistic mark-making that reveal the process behind them.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

I was influenced by this artist Stu Morris, whose work I found on Pinterest early this year. His subject matter of portraits in this expressionist style influenced my finished artworks, as I really liked the unnatural use of colour and the visible expressive brush strokes.

I have a personal interest in watching birds and observing their behaviour. Their interactions can be territorial, competitive, and social, and sometimes their unexpectedly aggressive traits mirror human behaviour in a more instinctive, unfiltered way. Noticing these similarities inspired me to merge human and bird characteristics in my artwork to highlight how closely our behaviours can align.

The Neo-Expressionist art movement also inspired me. Its bold colours, strong textures, and gestural mark-making are used to create emotionally charged artworks that explore personal, social, or psychological themes. I liked Jean-Michel Basquiat’s use of oil sticks that produce raw, energetic, and spontaneous lines.

What materials and processes did you use?

I used recycled cardboard panels, which were 90s advertisements for Yamaha. I primed the panels with gesso to ensure they could be painted on. I started with painting a background with acrylic paint, and creating outlines of heads, faces, and bodies. I used oil pastels to add more detail, and switched between painting and using oil pastels to enhance the texture. I finished with line work of oil sticks, and sprayed varnish on the paintings to finish once the oil stick was completely dry.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

When I began each painting, I often struggled to decide on colours or how to shape the faces and heads. But once I started working, the process became much more instinctive. To add variation and make the colours feel more vibrant, I began using complementary colour schemes. From there, it felt natural to keep building the work with extra details and patterns. What I found most interesting was how much my approach changed once I started using oil sticks. The material allowed me to make more expressive, confident marks, and the vibrancy of the colours helped establish the whole base of the painting. After that, almost anything I added seemed to fit, which made the process feel exciting and unpredictable.

Fallow Aviaries explores my sensations of body dysmorphia that caused and was perpetuated by my Amenorrhea.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

Leonorra Carrington’s work The Giantess (Guardian of the Egg), specifically the use of the egg motif as a allusion to matriarchal instincts.

Fables of Human-Bird Chimeras such as ancient Greek Harpies and Howl from Howl’s moving castle, which inspired much of the composition.

The childhood film Song of the sea where Mac Lir, Celtic god of the sea, is turned to stone to rid him of his painful emotions.

What materials and processes did you use?

I utilised stoneware pottery for the main body, with a speckled-white stoneware glaze, sculpting the limbs individually before assembling them with slip, as well as thing clay-covered wire for the legs, which corroded in the kiln. For the abdomen I used embroidery threads to create bullion knots, and the face was felted out of a mixture of sheets wool and my rabbit’s shedded fur.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

I find the transformation of ceramics in the kiln especially interesting, much like the changes our bodies experience during puberty, the ceramic is subjected to physically grueling conditions, fired at thousands of degrees it transforms and changes into something sometimes unrecognisable from what it was before firing.

Week 7, 10, 12 explore an evolution of technique and an exploration of identity and mental health.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

Both Yayoi Kusama and Myuran Sukumaran inspired the process of this disciplined practice. From the discipline of constraining herself (Kusama) to the circle, she was able to experiment, explore and extend the boundaries of “what a circle is”, allowing her to reveal her identity as a woman and an artist, as well as her desire to create meaningful art that would inspire others. Sukumaran, a death row inmate of the Bali 9, painted a self-portrait daily in order to channel his thoughts, feelings, and emotions into his art-making. Similar to him, and inspired by Kusama, I decided to do a self-portrait a week.

Lucian Freud was my stimulus artist, encouraging me to pursue portraiture and explore the themes of identity and mental health. He interested me, not only because of the detail and brilliance seen in his portraits, but also because of the volume of emotions and feelings he was able to communicate through his manipulation of texture and colour. Freud’s works also seemed very raw to me as he depicted himself in an authentic and unembellished way, which I found to be quite profound and interesting, leading me to approach self-portraiture in a more vulnerable way.

I am also deeply influenced by the people around me: my friends, family, and everyone navigating the universal experience of being human. We all move through complex emotions, yet we live in a society that often encourages us to suppress our insecurities and hide our struggles. Through this, I’ve come to recognise how important it is to normalise these experiences and to acknowledge mental health as a shared reality, rather than a burden. This is why I chose to create self-portraits, as they make these internal experiences visible, fostering a sense of solidarity within the community.

What materials and processes did you use?

The same medium (oil paint) and the same-sized stretched canvas (46 × 38 cm) were used consistently throughout this repetitive practice. Initially, a wash of diluted burnt sienna was applied to the canvas before proceeding with a sketch using a thin brush and paint. Then, starting with the darkest tones/colours around the shadows of my face and the background, gradually progressing to the midtones, and finally finishing with the lightest tones/colours for the highlights. The initial layer allowed for a better perception of these tonal variations. All colours were mixed continuously on the palette throughout the process.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

The idea of self-portraiture became quite daunting, particularly throughout the first few weeks. Staring at my own face for hours became incredibly confronting, and it challenged the way in which I perceived myself. I became critical of my form, proportions, and eventually, I was questioning my own identity. However, through perseverance, I became confident and comfortable within both my art-making and myself, as demonstrated through my proficiency and vulnerability in Weeks 7, 10 and 12.

BRAT explores the overcoming of insecurity and social pressures, and the acceptance of identity, by showing that the grotesque is not seen as something only negative, but as something honest, emotional and human.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

Bugs: I find them fascinating for how they behave, live and look, and how people usually find their presence and appearance disturbing and annoying.

Yui Ishibashi: I find her sculptures inspiring to communicate vulnerability through soft hues and lighting, portraying a calm, mellow aesthetic despite the grotesque forms. I also find her motif of malformed flora and fauna in her sculptures to be thought-provoking and hold significant meaning, which is what I aimed for my artwork.

My own experiences: In the past, I often worried and overthought how others would perceive me, fearing that they would disregard me for my vulnerability and who I truly was. I believed that if I tried to be someone else, those people would accept me. Eventually, I let go of trying to meet their expectations, because they were never going to accept me regardless. And finally allow myself to express and acknowledge who I really am.

What materials and processes did you use?

I used scrunched aluminum foil and wire to form a round, lumpy base to guide the thick, excessive layers of air-dry clay to form a bulbous, larvae-like body, using the tips of my fingers, along with a flat pointed sculpting tool to define the creases and brush tool to accentuate the grimy texture. I then used earthy hues like burnt umber, creams and rosy orange to create an organic, grounded appearance of the subject matter, enhancing it to seem life-like yet filthy. Once the acrylic paint had dried, I sealed the sculpture with acrylic sealer, not only to protect the paint but also accentuate the squirmy, wet body the larvae has, supporting the revolting appearance. To further enhance the displeasing look, I inserted sprouts of doll hair all over the body, creating a contrast with the glossy texture.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

The dynamic of different textures like the glossy sealer and doll hair create a sense of life and enhance its disturbing, grotesque form by seeming unhygienic and grimy similar to how bugs are viewed up close.

The hair I had used was from my childhood doll, which gave me comfort and joy. Giving the sculpture the doll hair not only to enhance the grotesque texture difference but also hold the authentic, vulnerable yet loving memories from my childhood and identity.

My perfectionism was challenging to handle when making this artwork, as when I usually make serious artworks / projects I tend to get disturbed that my art won’t please the traditional view. I overcame this issue by reflecting on my artwork and realising that my artwork was never to please anyone – It shouldn’t be pleasing anyone for what it is. Its natural grotesque is supposed to express the vulnerability it holds, that I once felt.

Workshop 5 explores the beauty and identity of shed and work spaces and our process of storage and collection.

List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

Sheds, studios, and workspaces used for making provide access to materials and the space needed for creative production. For me, these spaces inspire both productivity and creativity.

I find Ben Quilty inspiring for his depiction of masculinity, youth and subject matter.

Diokno Pasilan often paints large, expressive paintings, some exceeding 2.5m width. This encouraged me to attempt larger works and to experiment more with my techniques.

What materials and processes did you use?

I used oil paints, recycled drop-sheets, recycled timber, and my grandmothers oil paints. I used the process of producing a large range of smaller mock-up paintings prior to starting the final to develop an understanding of the medium. These mock-ups allowed me to refine my exploration of my contention.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

The most interesting part of the process was learning to paint with a medium I had not used before, oil paints. Through lots of trial and error, the exploration of the medium was very enjoyable. The most challenging part of producing the work was convincing my teacher to let me use oil paints and pushing through negative feedback to keep a significant subject in the artwork despite strong encouragement otherwise.

Fragments of Becoming explores the chaotic, shifting process of stepping into adulthood, capturing the pressure, uncertainty, and self-awareness that defined my Year 12 experience.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

David Larwill’s abstract paintings feature a bold and expressive use of colour and line. I was inspired to use similar techniques to explore my own ideas about identity and emotions. I used fragmented lines, colour, and shape to depict chaotic forms that represent change and growth.

Ian Fairweather’s abstract paintings from the mid1900s feature limited colour palettes in unexpected combinations. This inspired me to explore using limited hues of pinks and yellow to communicate the confusion and of transformation into adulthood, amidst experiencing the pressures of year 12.

Leonard French creates large scale abstract artworks that immerse the viewer due to their size. This inspired me to create a large-scale artwork that would encapsulate the viewer into experiencing a sense of chaos and confusion.

What materials and processes did you use?

I used acrylic paint mixed with impasto on canvas, building a composition that layered colour and expressive line work. I applied impasto medium to create a thicker texture and roughness, adding depth and emphasising the sense of chaos in the piece. In doing so, I developed my composition through layering, scraping and reworking and reapplying impasto and paint to the surface to build movement and intensity in the artwork.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

Becoming more aware and exploring how I can visually represent my emotions and personal growth through experimenting with the different line work, layered colours and the texture and impasto to capture the intensity of chaos and fragments. The most challenging part in creating this composition was carefully considering the overall clarity of the piece. I had to consider how layering, colouring, and the flow of lines to use so that the work conveyed emotional turbulence without becoming
visually overwhelming or losing its intended meaning.

Seeing you, seeing me explores the enduring relationships and mutual care between individuals despite the impossibility of completely understanding each other. The figures are miniature models of me and my mother but with fish heads, taking inspiration from the sayings “like a fish out of water” and “if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid”. It’s a way of representing our struggles and adaptability, but also how being so close to each other can make us see one another as the ‘fish’ in these sayings, and become fixated on each other’s flaws. In spite of this, the positioning of the miniature replicas to face each other and stand closely reveals a deep, enduring bond and acceptance of our differences and misunderstandings.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected

Both my mother and I really admire animals and nature, which was the reason why I wanted to create something animal related, despite the main message being unrelated to the natural world. My personal experiences and feelings made me represent myself as a smooth toadfish, and my mother’s love of killer whales and admiration of their intelligence founded her request to be depicted as a killer whale.

I really liked Ah Xian’s sculptural piece Dr John Yu (2004), and it was one of the pieces that initially inspired me to pursue sculptural work.

My familial relationships inspired this work. Despite being closest to one another, we sometimes clash or misunderstand each other. Yet we continue to try, support, and grow together.

What materials and processes did you use?

As I wanted my work to closely resemble real life appearances, the process started with taking photos of me and my mother wearing our favourite clothes and finding orca and smooth toadfish photos as reference. I used Sculpey clay due to my experience throughout the year creating humanoids with the material, and constructed the figures with the help of reference photos. I then coloured them with acrylic paint pens, using a paintbrush to thin out layers of paint to aid with the drying process and to paint details. The finished figures were stuck onto a wooden board with hot glue.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

Although I had used Sculpey clay in many of my unit 3/4 artworks, it was my first time creating figures that deviated from the average human form and had such detailed appearances. Because I hadn’t attempted to create 3D fish people before, my reference photos and plans for their anatomy didn’t lead to satisfactory appearances on the first few tries and it was an interesting challenge trying to create an appearance I was happy with. The details such as clothing wrinkles and overall shape, especially on such small sculptures, required meticulous detailing, which was tedious but satisfying.

Stairway to Heaven is one of a two part piece highlighting the increase of homelessness in Melbourne’s inner suburbs.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

I’m inspired by vibrant, textured characters made by Melbourne-based street artists. Michael (Mic) Porter creates wild style drippy characters, each one with its own unique details and characteristics. I was inspired to use his overly drippy style somewhere in my paintings.
Kitt Bennett is a young Fitzroy-based tattoo artist and mural painter. Kitt has claimed a specific style of graffiti; a point of admiration is his use of bird’s eye view and scale, with some murals reaching hundreds of meters. Naxington’s delicate, intricate pieces all follow a very unique ‘lore’, fueled by abstract layers of coarse spluttered colours and refined to a more impressionist look with repeated layers of outlines and shading. The whole process carries a real sense of freedom and embodies a nostalgic mental landscape, topped off by his signature characters spread throughout the canvases.

Stories of transitioning into homelessness, scenes on the streets, documentaries.

Landscape painters like Mark Bo Chu, Richard Musgrove Evans.
Mark Bo Chu is one of the most persistent influences in my mind. I love the way he sticks to the usual subjects of oil painting (still life, streets, people), but instead of aiming for perfect scale and form, he aims for exaggerated colour and texture. It creates a real warmth in his pieces in which also mirrors the nice guy he is.
Richard Musgrove Evans is a south Australian painter who highlights the recognisable Aussie landscape with perfected colour composition. Our country is such a unique beautiful landscape and Musgrove Evans is able to combine a few specific colours lathered onto a canvas with a pallet knife to tell us where we are in his paintings.

What materials and processes did you use?

I used acrylic paints, spray paint, pastels, whiteout markers, solid paint markers, crayons, collage elements, barbed wire, and a metal‑tip paint squeezer. The process involved layering acrylics so the detailed layers wouldn’t seep into the wood, while adding as much texture as possible using a needle cap and switching between different paint consistencies. I collaged images onto the canvas and refined areas with the squeezer bottle, along with adding physical elements.
I also used spray‑paint overspray between each layer, watered‑down paints on the canvas, and alcohol or oil‑based liquids to create a grungy, weathered look.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

Layering onto wood meant making sure the mediums I was using stayed at full strength on the surface. Many layers of paint lost their opaque look, but I eventually worked past the rough texture.
Working on a canvas at this scale burned through a lot of paint, so I used spray paint and buff house paint to prevent the composition from becoming overwhelmed by mixed background colours. Using a tight selection of paints required both rationing and planning how to use each portion. It also meant making constant last‑minute adjustments as I tried to counter the plasticky finish that comes with cheaper acrylics.

Repose explores the subtle layers of emotion that define my mother’s character.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

My first source of inspiration for Repose is the work of the artist Paul Cadden. His hyperrealist style with the use of graphite is not only technically inspiring, but his ability to capture a fleeting human emotion was something I really wanted to achieve in my own work. I love working with raw,traditional materials, and Cadden manipulates those materials so well.

My second inspiration is my grandmother Jenni. She’s a modern landscape artist, she doesn’t do portraits, but her love of art was hugely impactful for me as a child. We visited art galleries, I painted alongside her in her studio – they’re my most peaceful and happiest childhood memories.

My third inspiration, and the subject of my work, is family, specifically my mum. As a single mum, before marrying my stepdad, her quiet strength and gentle determination got me and my sisters through some hard times, and I really wanted to capture her vulnerable yet steely nature.

What materials and processes did you use?

For my portrait Repose, I used a range of graphite pencils, charcoal powder, soft brushes for blending, and fine erasers, working on hot pressed watercolour paper. I worked on hot pressed paper because it enables smooth blending and has a fine tooth grip which I found really helpful in achieving close detail.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

Probably the most interesting aspect was working on a subject (my mum) that I knew so well. It was a unique experience to have to really study a face that is so familiar to you but yet you take for granted a lot of the time. I had to stop and notice the lines on her face and how graceful her hands are, which was a nice opportunity for me to become more tuned in to those subtleties. In terms of challenges, the two major ones were scale and time. I’d never worked at such a large scale and I really wanted to push myself with that. I wanted my work to have impact, but of course that meant that it was a much more ambitious project to complete. Managing my time and putting in so many hours was tough but rewarding.

Me Vs Me explores the battles we face between ourselves every day with identity, habits and self esteem.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

Other artists inspire me with their practice and what they’ve been able to achieve as well as trying to understand what it is that makes their art successful.

Music keeps me motivated while creating my works me and inspires a lot of the energy I try to capture in what I create.

Living inspires me, memories, spending time with friends, visiting new places and connecting with people.

What materials and processes did you use?

I first created my work digitally then projected it to a MDF board I had previously gessoed. Once I had it projected I began painting with acrylic working similarly to paint with numbers, using my digital work as a palette reference. Mixing and matching colours I slowly filled in all the blank spaces before moving to shading, each colour needing about three layers of paint. Once filled in, I went through using my digital for reference again and created the linework.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

I often begin creating my works in a digital world as my style can be described as pretty cartoony. But bringing them to the physical world with paint is always fun because it doesn’t really look painted. I find that a lot of the people who view my work ask if it is printed out.

Allegory of a Blanket explores personal attachments to tangible objects, and their inevitable degradation fast-tracked by use.

What inspires you?

The Baroque era – especially the work of Artemisia Gentileschi – had a profound impact on the way I created this piece. Baroque art is almost scientific in the way light and form is used and balanced to capture emotions and dynamism within a scene. I studied some of these traditional techniques such as Chiaroscuro and Sfumato blending. While resolving my painting I was conscious the whole time of aligning my piece with the Baroque style and the idea of Allegory.

Fabrics and textiles and the inherent tactility of material was really important to keep in mind. I wanted to capture the feeling of my tattered pink blanket, which had been so instrumental in quietly guiding me through life. It needed to be familiar and recognisable, learning to paint the implied texture of the acrylic and satin fibres meant further analysing and connecting with the material, which strengthened the emotional value of my piece, as though every detail I painted, every fray and hole was a description of its journey.

Continuity and perpetuity of life was a philosophical theme I fell into, originally I was exploring the idea of incompletion and the definition of the end. As I worked with this, I realised placing emphasis on the end of something missed the point of the ongoing journeys. The idea of using my blanket as subject matter captured observations of the fibres beginning to unravel and holes and tears appearing, reminding me of its years of use. As it moves through life with me, it is no more immune to change than I am.

What materials and processes did you use?

I used medium-fine cotton canvas as a base, allowing me to achieve the scale I wanted. Before painting, I spent a large amount of time taking photos, digitally arranging the images for use as reference. I used a variety of oil pigments, most notably Transparent Red Oxide which harbours a richness and light-capturing depth which suits a dark composition. I used a range of small synthetic flat brushes, as I find these give me the control and flexibility to paint with precision. I sat at my easel for 65 hours over the span of 3 months, slowly bringing it together.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

Following the influence of a traditional style was definitely one of the most insightful and challenging aspects of this piece. Over the past few years, I have familiarised myself with oil paints and developed a style I enjoy and have room to grow within. I found inspiration from old artworks a great source of motivation to refine areas of my practice. Creating a strong visual language that informs viewers is part of a Baroque allegory, and something I wanted to improve on, but I also wanted to keep the nuisance and clandestine feel of the old works, where what is being said is not being shouted – more-so quietly suggested. Balancing my inexperience with traditional ‘old-masters’ techniques and contemporary artistic practice was something I had to keep at the front of my brain while creating this piece, and I found it challenging to balance the visual to celebrate and connect both self-expression and historical art references.

15 – 18 explores both external and internal transformations resulting from gender affirming care. This was represented in two self portraits.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

Spanish artist Fransisco Goya and his use of non-literal textures and colours inspired me to explore this style in my own work.

Film titled I saw the TV glow which explores themes of transformation and how suffocating it can be to pretend to be something you are not. Also the cinematography uses vibrant colours and dynamic shots.

I’m inspired by digital artists who work in Procreate. I was particularly drawn to the textured, painterly brushes they use – such as ones that create rough strokes or soft, blended shading – and incorporated similar effects in my own work

Laurence Philomene photographs their community in vibrant and simplistic scenes. I took inspiration from them to capture the subtle joy particularly in my second image.

What materials and processes did you use?

I drew both portraits in the app Procreate. I started off by using a past photograph of myself and then did a photoshoot of my current self. I used these photos as the basis of my artworks. I sketched out the basic composition where I then placed down flat colours and built up texture by using various degrees of opacity where I experimented with blend modes to create depth and gradient maps to create more intensity.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

As I worked on the portrait of my younger self, to whom I feel so alien, it slowly began to feel like a picture of me rather than a stranger. Looking back at the 15-year old that was me I recognised the features that are still apart of me.

Architectural Forms (Cemented) explores how architecture’s tapering, curved, and geometric forms can be abstracted into sculptural language. The raw concrete medium reflects the idea of permanence, solidity, and endurance, while the forms themselves question the relationship between structure and memory in spaces we use every day. By translating buildings into miniature concrete studies, the work highlights how architecture shape’s identity and culture, while also cementing these ideas into material form from embedding the presence of human life.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

I am inspired by architecture and I love how styles and forms within it can influence different feelings and interactions amongst the space it sits.

Brutalist architecture for the bold, raw concrete and strength it provides.

Building and construction – My passion for building and construction runs deep. Introduced to the industry from a young age trough my fathers own construction company, I grew up immersed in the world of site visits, design details, and hand-on craftsmanship creating a realisation of a lifelong passion.

What materials and processes did you use?

To create Architectural Forms (Cemented) I began by sketching each building and reducing it into a simplified mould concept. I imagined the negative space first, then built layered foam-board moulds to form the positive concrete volumes. Using the Façade Block as an example, I laser-cut and stacked hundreds of small arches, arranged them on a measured grid, and poured cement around them before removing the cardboard to reveal the voids. Many components required trial, error and re-casting, such as the roof and the Stair & Cantilever within a Cliff form. Each sculpture was finished through refining, sanding and assembling the cast pieces.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

Most interesting about creating my work was I found a real strength in me on how my visualisations and backwards engineering unfold in my head while thinking both creatively and strategically about creating the negative space of the mould for my sculptures so I can get a stable and complete structure. Most challenging was that working with concrete is that it doesn’t always go right. For example, when work on Stair & Cantilever within a Cliff it took me several attempts and refining to get it right, but within failing I learnt several new skill and things I needed to add to the process like using a double layer of foam board for the walls, and to use a lot more tape and hot glue for strength and sealing of the gaps.

Unravelled explores the link between the physical pain and mental anguish of living with hidden / unseen chronic illnesses.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

The Norwegian artist Edward Much once said, “I do not believe in the art which is not the compulsive result of man’s urge to open his heart”. This statement and Munch’s belief that art should be a raw expression of deep personal feelings – a window into the soul which explores personal themes like loneliness, anxiety, depression born from personal experience and genuine suffering – resonated strongly with me. I live with two chronic hidden illnesses in a world where peers struggle to recognise the physical and emotional impact this has on a person. I realised I could try and use my art to convey this.

I was drawn to Eugenie Lee as a contemporary interdisciplinary artist who focuses on the lived experience of persistent pain, women’s health and the psycho-social impacts of hidden disability. She talks about the loneliness, isolation, loss of identity, sense of worth and helplessness of living with the chronic pain of endometriosis. Her commitment to reaching connecting and educating others through her very personal insight consolidated my decision to use my own experience to tell my story of living with severe Endometriosis and ME/CFS through my piece. She has inspired me to stop letting my disabilities define me but to instead use my lived experience to educate my peers.

My Mother experienced excruciating pain from the age of fifteen. She was told to get on with it. She was told to ‘have a baby’ and the pain would disappear. She was told that ‘some of us just have a lower pain threshold than most’. She was frowned upon for school and work absences. She was belittled, made to feel less than worthy and struggled to gain any empathy for what she was going through. She began to wonder if she was overacting. She was encouraged not to talk about it. It took eight years for a diagnosis and rudimentary intervention. It’s taken another thirty years for conversation on the impact of hidden chronic conditions to be taken seriously. My mothers lived experience inspires me to continue the conversation; to speak for both of us in a way that she could not.

What materials and processes did you use?

I used a dark stoneware clay. I chose the rough, exposed texture to highlight vulnerability and rawness of emotion. I utilised flat coiling and sculpting. The stacked coils represent the feeling of a continuous cycle of living with a chronic illness; of being stuck in a relentless vortex. I sculpted the torso and the head, delicately carving out each detail to mimic the lines of the flat coils. For the unravelling coils wrapping around the form I used an extruder to create continuous coils, giving me the ability to drape the clay into folds to create a soft, flowing movement.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

The most interesting, and challenging, part about creating my work was exploring how body language conveys meaning and emotion – a universal, visual language. I knew that the only way my piece could communicate meaning was through the positioning and attention to detail of every part of the figure. This created a huge challenge for me with my limited sculpting experience. I knew I needed to create a recognisable female form; but it needed to also evoke the intensity of pain, frustration, depression, grief, loneliness and hopelessness – both a rawness of emotion and a softness of the female form. The stance of the form, the drooping of the shoulders and the angle of the head were all intentional. I spent many hours developing my technique and refining the posture.

Obduktion is a fractured exploration of self and body image. It serves as an artistic autopsy that examines, exposes, and reassembles human flesh through distortion and honesty. The title, German for “autopsy,” nods to Frankenstein’s Swiss origins and themes of monstrosity, fragmentation, and non-conformity. Oil pastel felt intuitive; its waxy blendability spoke to the human urge to mould and manipulate the body. The surreal, disjointed arrangement of canvases intensifies this sense of dismemberment and reconstruction, confronting beauty standards and societal pressures. In doing so, Obduktion reclaims the body in its most raw, unapologetic, and unfiltered form.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

Artists who distort the human form, such as Egon Schiele, Lucian Freud, and Jenny Saville. These artists depict flesh with an unflinching honesty, yet they deliberately warp bodies through exaggerated proportions, contorted poses, and expressive mark-making. Their approach to the figure informed my own use of anatomical distortion and experimentation with scale, proportion, and texture, exploring the body as something simultaneously familiar and alien.

Literature and media depictions of Frankenstein’s creature. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein inspired me through its exploration of otherness, constructed identity, and the longing to just be understood. The creature’s deeply human yet socially rejected existence parallels contemporary sociocultural issues around marginalisation. This informed my final piece by encouraging me to depict the body as something both assembled and estranged by using visual fragmentation, exaggeration, and uneasy contrasts to mirror the creature’s tension between humanity and monstrosity.

Personal experiences with body dysmorphia, weight fluctuation, and disordered eating. My long-standing struggle with body image deeply shaped the theme and emotional tone of this piece. Creating it became a way to confront and process the distorted perceptions I often carry about my own body. By depicting these feelings with extreme candour and without apology, I aimed to reclaim a sense of agency and challenge the stigma surrounding weight gain and diverse body types, especially within online and social media spaces.

What materials and processes did you use?

I used unorthodox materials and processes to create my final piece. I worked across several stretched canvases, sketching the compositions directly onto them before applying an acrylic base to give the surface a matte, less porous finish. This prepared the canvas for oil pastels, which I blended and smudged with stumps to build form and texture. To protect the canvas from pressure while working, I placed stacked books underneath to create a firm, level support. After completing the drawings, I applied a fixative to help set the pastel and finished the works by painting the canvas edges with acrylic paint.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

I found it challenging to work on canvas using such heavy pressure with oil pastels and blending stumps. One of the original canvases tore, and others developed dents and slight warping. Over time, I began to see these flaws like the human body’s own marks and blemishes, and I appreciated that the surfaces were not perfect. Another difficulty was finding the right balance between realism and a more expressive, less naturalistic style without letting the forms become too cartoon-like or too flat. The greatest challenge, however, was transporting and displaying the work. Oil pastels never fully dry and remain easily smudged, even with multiple coats of fixative. This instability ultimately reinforced the themes of the work by making the pieces feel delicate, ephemeral, and vulnerable.

Devil Horns Peeled Away explores how living with scaphocephaly and undergoing craniofacial surgery shaped my identity, visibility, and understanding of healing across the stages of before, during, and after medical intervention.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

Jenny Saville inspired my monochrome mirror self-portrait through her exaggerated, confronting depictions of the body. Her approach encouraged me to push the point-five perspective and distort my own reflection to
emphasise the scar and psychological impact rather than aiming for a perfect likeness.

Damien Hirst, particularly For the Love of God (2007), influenced my decision to create a life-sized skull and incorporate my surgical staples. His focus on the body, medicine, and mortality showed me how clinical materials can become emotionally charged.

My lived experience of scaphocephaly and craniofacial surgery shaped the entire series. It guided decisions from the CT-scan composition to the 3D rendering and sculptural forms that extended by body of work so the work remained honest, personal, and grounded in reality.

What materials and processes did you use?

The mirror self-portrait was created with oil paint on a 60 cm by 50 cm canvas, starting with a burnt sienna ground to unify the surface before adding monochromatic layers.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

The most interesting part of this process was transforming something usually hidden and clinical into a personal narrative that feels direct and vulnerable. This was especially clear in the mirror self-portrait and exploring real medical objects, which made the work more honest and intimate. It also allowed the piece to become a form of advocacy, encouraging recognition and acceptance of my deformity so that scaphocephaly is understood rather than judged.

Burnout explores the high consumption of technologies in our daily lives today, particularly forstudents. This overuse is a product of the COVID-19 pandemic which caused these devices to be essential for continuing day to day tasks, until it became normalised.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

I was inspired by the work of contemporary painter Owen Rival, in particular his employment of vibrant and contrasting colours within the work to symbolise conflict between two concepts, as well as depicting mundanity within recurring, daily tasks.

Own experiences with technology overconsumption, and the strain of the light emitted off its screens.

Social media shaped my style, especially seeing other artists utilising and manipulating realism to depict their day to day realities.

What materials and processes did you use?

I used a small photography colour light and a sunset lamp and took photos on my phone camera for the reference, grid method to sketch out proportions, underpainting using watered down acrylic paint and layered acrylic paints from basic blocking to high levels of detail to create realism

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

Time management was the biggest factor as I had to balance out painting and folio work with other Year 12 subjects as well as using acrylic paints- they dry up so fast and requires so many layers

Cuddles? explores my existential anxieties about health, and how they have shaped my outlook on life.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

Indian Textile artist Mrinalini Mukherjee. Mukherjee’s manipulation of symmetry, textile embodiment of emotion and powerful presence achieved through scale, drove my decision to pursue a textile sculpture. My approach of using wire framework to support a textile exterior, and the way I represented my emotions in an abstract way, draw on her unique art practice.

Native Australian flora and fauna. The organic, repeated tendrils of sea anemone and the natural form of native flowers such as grevillea, informed my creation of the repeated crochet tendrils emerging from both sides of Cuddles?.

Characteristics of the human body. My colour scheme draws on the vibrant red tones characteristic of freshly spilled blood, and my work’s irregular form stems from a fascination with blood’s flowing movement. Further, the side view of my work cascades from a height of pressure to a low of lifeless collapse – referring to imagery of the human body during haemorrhaging rupture.

What materials and processes did you use? 

I used aluminium armature wire for the inner framework, and 100% polyester chenille yarn & ribbon yarn for the exterior. I employed an intuitive process throughout. This involved hand crocheting all textile elements. The glossy texture of ribbon yarn was used for the inner lining and teeth to reflect their ‘wetness’. By using frequent transitions between yarn deniers, hook sizes and circumference for the tendrils, I created bulbous and irregular surfaces that illustrate the movement of thickly flowing blood. 

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work? 

I am not an open book when it comes to my emotions, and yet my emotions are the very basis of my work. My whole life, I have struggled to clearly articulate my fears, worries and stresses. Choosing to interrogate and thus challenge my health anxieties in my work therefore required an unprecedented level of emotional self-awareness. However, this element of the process also showed me the power of art practice; it allows others to see and connect to my experiences beyond the use of words.

May She Grow to Meet Her explores how my struggle with anorexia often isolates, and drives a wedge between me and the women I love, particularly my Mother.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

I was heavily inspired by childhood fairytales, more specifically the trope used in Thumbelina, Alice in Wonderland and Arriety of the small shrunken girl who is forced to navigate a world not built for her piquant size.

I was inspired by the practices of needle work and sewing passed down to me throughout my lineage of female house makers and seamstresses, utilising it as a structural connection to my own femininity and the burden of being a woman that I have inherited.

What materials and processes did you use?

The dress is composed of second hand cotton broderie englaise, 100% silk organza and vintage lace – all natural nonsynthetic materials that have a long history of use in garment making, as well as pearl buttons given to me by my mother. To sew the dress I used a combination of machine sewing and hand sewing, however all of the embroidery was done by hand. Spending an accumulative 100+ hours embroidering poems, pictures and floral motifs in various colours of cotton embroidery thread that my Grandmother gave to me. The ‘Ovary’-look bow around the colour was made by braiding various threads of cotton and sewing seed-pearls, given to me by my Oma, alongside French knots onto a felted ball of sheep wool. The ceramic components were sculpted by hand with stoneware clay, bisque fired, and then a watered down white glaze was applied to them, fired again, before finally I used watered down pink glaze to blush out certain crevices.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

Spending hours each night embroidering onto this tiny dress I was both fascinated and challenged by just how time consuming the embroidery process was, even a motif that is very little takes a huge amount of time, care and patience. It made me think to the generations of women whose duty it was to repair sometimes a whole families worth of clothes, and I really feel for their selflessness and endurance.

Mountains To Oceans explores the lifestyle and atmosphere of surf communities like Torquay and Jan Juc. Through surf photography and observing everyday coastal life, I explore how strongly the ocean shapes daily routines, decisions, and the overall rhythm of these towns. I wanted each photograph to feel like a memory-familiar, nostalgic, and slightly distant so I used retro film grain and a softened colour palette to evoke the look of aged imagery. This body of work reflects both the cultural character of surf towns and the deep emotional connection people hold with the ocean.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

The work of Ed Templeton, and the way he documents his life and friends through his camera, really inspired me. He says that if something isn’t documented, then it didn’t exist: “Every time I forget my camera I’ve regretted it – life isn’t worth living if I can’t take a photo of it.”
This motivated me to capture moments of my friends and my life throughout this year, before we all head in our own directions after Year 12.

Eugene Tan’s use of bright colours, and the way he captures people interacting with the ocean through light and environment, has really influenced me. I’ve grown up by the ocean and swim almost every day. The ocean is my place of connection—the space that grounds and centers me.

My mates and my life – I’m blessed to have an amazing life and a group of people I care about and get to experience each day with. I document this life through whatever camera I have with me, capturing moments as they happen. I use these images to create a series of memories and snapshots we can look back on together.

What materials and processes did you use?

I shoot with whatever device I have with me, whether that be Nikon DSLR, a film camera, my phone or an old school Sony Cybershot. Capturing the moment is the beginning then I edit the images with a preference for more retro nostalgic feels and prefer to print on matte papers that soften the colours to be more like memories – not sharp and fully defined.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

No day was the same. I could prepare all I wanted, but on the day, all I could really do was shoot what was happening in front of me. This was especially challenging when I was shooting outdoors, because I couldn’t predict the weather or the light conditions.
I had to adapt with whatever I had. In the mountains, one of my cameras froze; at the beach, the light shifted quickly and the colours changed every minute. I just had to shoot and roll with it.
I learned to take heaps of photos and then select and refine everything back in the classroom or studio.

Woods between the Worlds explores the complexity and ever-changing nature of identity.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

I take a lot of inspiration from my own life and experiences and try to convey what I learn through my artworks. Finishing school and growing up has made me think a lot about how much I have changed as a person. Through an array of new experiences, I have found many new versions of myself and learnt many new things about myself. It is this experience of growing up, and the sometimes overwhelming nature of trying to understand and know myself as an ever-changing and ever-growing person, that has inspired The Woods between the Worlds.

I drew inspiration from the work of the artist Toyin Ojih Odutola, particularly her series, To Wander Determined, which I admire for the use of texture and pattern in the artworks, their large scale, and their vibrant use of colour. Vincent van Gogh is another artistic inspiration for me and I have taken inspiration from his use of impasto to create visible texture in his expressive, Impressionist style, as well as his bold use of both colour and line to create striking and complex renderings of the subjects in my artwork.

Music inspires the way that I want my artworks to feel. Music by artists such as Tame Impala has helped me to formulate the feeling of my artwork, which I want to convey complexity and an air of chaos.

What materials and processes did you use?

I rendered the main subject of the artwork using oil pastels in an exaggerated colour palette, focusing on the nuanced undertones in the reference image and drawing these out. I have used impasto to create an expressive Impressionist style through the application of real texture from the thick oil pastels. I also used a sharp wooden skewer to carve out details with a sgraffito technique, defining facial features and adding texture to hair. I coloured in the background using a burnishing technique with coloured pencils, which I then layered oil pastel over to combine two distinct patterns.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

I found it most challenging trying to develop a composition which accurately conveyed my ideas. I went through multiple iterations of the composition and created trials during Unit 3 which were tested during a critique. I wanted to make it as clear as possible that all the people in the artwork are in fact the same person, which I have done by grouping them close together and also choosing a portrait orientation for the artwork rather than a landscape orientation – as portrait is typically used for images of a single person while landscape is used for images of multiple people. It was also difficult to organise and synthesise my ideas into a single artwork, incorporating elements of memory and culture and identity into one composition in a harmonious manner. However, I also found this very interesting, as it forced me to consider how I could make use of visual language like symbols, art elements and art principles to convey a message and communicate my ideas visually.

Silence and the Khronos Wonderland is a digital animation that philosophically explores the symbolic qualities of time. The work follows the main character, Silence, into a dreamlike realm where they travel across eras, from the age of dinosaurs to the end of the universe, reflecting on existence as it unfolds and dissolves before them.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

Anxiety about being replaced by machines and artificial intelligence. The near-perfect efficiency and stable quality of AI have led me to question the necessity of human existence itself. From a practical perspective, “being replaced” may be an inevitable fate. Therefore, in my story, I arranged for the protagonist, Silence, to be replaced by a more efficient robot, as a visualised expression of this anxiety.

Sense of nihilism toward the inevitable extinction of all things. I have gradually come to realize that death is an inescapable fact, and that nothing is truly immortal. Even time itself will ultimately lose its meaning with the heat death of the universe. This has made me question the very ideas of “cherishing” and “striving”. If everything is destined to dissolve into nothingness, can action itself still possess meaning? Thus, I let Silence choose to travel to the end of time, seeking refuge from change and loss within a state of absolute, changeless stillness.

Reflections on the “meaning of existence”. On the scale of cosmic time, all things will eventually perish, and meaning seems fated to disperse. Yet from the individual perspective, human choices, morality, desire, and responsibility genuinely shape destiny. Time cannot bear responsibility for every wrongdoing. For this reason, at the end of the story, I arranged for Silence to refute the god of time, refusing to attribute all evil to time itself.

What materials and processes did you use?

My animation is primarily created on an iPad.The Process began with drawing frame-by-frame animation in Procreate. I then import certain background elements into Amberdraw to create simple visual effects. Next, I brought the footage into Procreate Dreams for editing, assembling each scene into separate segments. Finally, I used CapCut (a video editing app) to add machine-generated voiceovers for the dialogue and to combine all scenes with background music, producing a complete animated short film.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

During the creative process, I faced multiple challenges, the most prominent of which was the constraint of time. Producing an animation involves a complex sequence of steps, including scriptwriting, visual conception, drawing, editing, and dialogue revision. Once immersed in the work, I felt daily anxiety, worried that I might not complete it on schedule. Given the length of the script, I initially even doubted whether I could finish the entire project. Although the final product is not entirely perfect, and I do not expect anyone to fully grasp these conceptual ideas, for me it has been a profoundly meaningful endeavor.

Through Cerulean Screens explores female emotion as both fragile and powerful, using light and colour to reclaim its intense complexity. By challenging the media’s simplified portrayals of women, I seek to create images that honor depth, vulnerability, and selfhood. Through symbolic objects and shifting atmospheres, my work reflects on the ways femininity is framed, distorted, and often silenced, aiming instead to reveal its multiplicity and strength.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

Petra Collins’ vivid, hyper-saturated portrayals of female emotion and tension without explicit narrative. Particularly, her series 24hr Psycho stemmed as a major inspiration point for my portrait work, influencing my focus on intimacy and vulnerability, critiquing the appropriation and manipulation of female emotion in media.

Media – Seeing women in media reduced to contained, hyper-polished versions of themselves became a point of negative inspiration for my work, as these depictions felt deeply disconnected from the women who have influenced me in my real life. These strong, expressive and complex female role models in my life motivated me to create a portrait that rejects these restrictive portrayals, instead emphasising emotional depth and authenticity that I have forever been nurtured by and value.

Early 2000’s coming-of-age cinematography – particularly those that use colour inject nostalgic emotion, such as Sofia Coppola’s ‘Paulo Alto’ and ‘Virgin Suicides’. Their vivid yet delicate pallets, dreamlike atmosphere and focus on young women’s navigational journey through their inner emotional world deeply inspired the tone and visual language I explored in my portrait.

What materials and processes did you use?

I created the portrait using oil paints on a prepared canvas, beginning with a light, wax pencil sketch based on my reference photograph. I established an underpainting using raw sienna to map tone. Starting the painting, I blocked in the main colours and values, then built the form through layering and careful wet-on-wet blending to achieve the smooth red and blue glow across the face. I used soft brushes to diffuse the lighting transitions and smaller, detailed brushes to refine features and textures. The process focused on controlling tone and colour temperature to capture the atmospheric effect.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

The most challenging and interesting part of creating my work was establishing a genuine connection with my subject during the photographic process. Instead of treating her simply as a reference model, I aimed to understand her emotions and identity so the final portrait would feel authentic rather than constructed. Building this trust and capturing moments of organic expression required sensitivity and patience, but it ultimately made the artwork more honest and emotionally grounded.

Best Before Yesterday explores the normalisation of climate inaction by using the familiar domestic space of a fridge to expose how environmental collapse is hidden, delayed, and consumed as ordinary, revealing the fragility of snow landscapes, lifestyles, and futures pushes perpetually “past their expiry date”.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

Seeing The Sum of All Evil at the Art Gallery of South Australia shaped how I used familiar, commercial imagery to critique serious global issues. The unsettling use of a recognisable symbol of comfort and consumption informed my decision to use the fridge as everyday object that disguises environmental collapse until viewed closely.

Kendall Murray’s use of miniature figures and densely detailed environments influenced the scale and construction of my diorama. Her work showed how small-scale worlds can carry large emotional and political weight, guiding my use of tiny skiers and landscapes to communicate climate fragility.

Growing up skiing at Mt Buller strongly informed the subject matter of the work. Witnessing declining snowfall and artificial snow production inspired the mountain form, skaters “on thin ice”, and the tension between preservation and destruction embedded within the fridge installation.

What materials and processes did you use?

I used a found refrigerator as the central structure, combining paper, plaster bandage, plexiglass, masking tape, wire, wood, Styrofoam, and diorama ground textures to construct a layered internal landscape. Plastic figurines, altered consumer packaging, printable labels, and found objects were embedded to reference consumption and climate denial. Processes included sculpting, casting, assembling, collage, painting, and installation, with LED lighting used to heighten atmosphere. The work relies on juxtaposition, scale manipulation, and enclosure to transform a familiar domestic object into a site of environmental critique.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

I found it most interesting to transform an everyday object – the fridge – into a site of discomfort and critique. The challenge lay in balancing familiarity with unease: making the work visually engaging from a distance, then confronting up close. Working with mixed materials at a miniature scale was technically demanding, particularly constructing the ski slope and layering consumer objects without tupping into spectacle. Conceptually, translating climate anxiety denial, and personal memory into a single contained environment required constant refinement, ensuring the work critique inaction without feeling didactic.

Breeding Burdens explores the impacts that personal struggles have on a person’s mental state.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

Nature and ocean life was the primary starting point for my final piece. I had visited Phillip Island and the pictures I took of the rock formations and the animals I saw really inspired me. I have always thought that many deep-sea creatures look strange yet beautiful, and it was that type of aesthetic that I sought to achieve in my final piece.

James Gleeson – for his use of nature as an artistic starting point, including observations of rock pools and similar ocean scenes that I was interested in. Also on a broader scale, his subversion of biomorphic form in a surrealist manner was extremely important in the direction of my piece.

Max Ernst – primarily for his use of the decalcomania technique, where plastic or paper materials are pressed into wet paint to create a pattern. Especially in his piece Europe After the Rain II, the technique creates incredible sweeping detail across the canvas whilst also imprinting a texture reminiscent of coral or eroded ocean rock.

What materials and processes did you use?

After drafting compositional ideas in Photoshop, I used plastic to create an impression upon a wet ground of burnt umber. This decalcomania technique created the texture that I worked upon for the rest of the piece. Using darker and lighter tones of oil paint, I established tonal differences and contrasts using both the decalcomania layer and my initial sketch as reference points. Once tone was established, I introduced a wider range of vibrant colours such as cadmium red and turquoise. Each layer was thinned slightly to act as a glaze, which kept the texture underneath whilst adding depth.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

Creating a piece of this scale was always going to be a challenge within the timeframe of Term 3. I had never made a piece anywhere near this large before, and there was a certain level of intimidation involved with approaching a huge white canvas at the beginning of my process. Another thing that challenged me was the layering of paint. I needed to add more colour and tonal variation on top of the textured ground, but I also wanted the texture to remain visible and prominent. This resulted in me striking a careful balance between being too transparent (and not making enough impactful change) and being too opaque (and covering up the texture). Furthermore, I tried to bring a lot of my forms out based on the texture I had created. My process was less about purely getting my ideas down but also working with what I already had and trying to use my imagination to mix my ideas with the physicality of the work. Ultimately, I think losing that element of total control really helped me to break out of my comfort zone and create something that I wouldn’t have previously.

Arboreal Reverie explores the theme of Mother Nature particularly the tension between fragility and resilience in natural forms. Through a crochet tonal palette of earthy pinks I aimed to evoke growth and decay, while the layered floral motifs and cascading strands mirror the unpredictable rhythms of the natural ecosystem.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

I drew inspiration from Iris Van Herpen’s organic, sculptural silhouettes. Her collections, Earthrise and Roots of Rebirth both explore themes of regeneration, the life cycle of nature, and the interconnectedness of all living things. Herpen’s often utilised layering and lace-like gaps to create depth which inspired me to include a variety of opaque and translucent areas in my work through the clusters of flowers and ruffles to only the base being exposed.

Additionally, Jean Paul Gaultier’s theatrical approach to couture inspired me to include small yet complex pieces to my work to encourage a viewer to look closely at the fine work behind each stitch. Gaultier’s bold texture inspired the overall shape of my dress as it symbolises how fashion can tell stories through exaggerated avant-garde and layering.

I also drew inspiration from the Rococo art and design style as Rococo fashion often included pastel colours, florals, gathers and flowing decorative elements. This influenced my work through the layered and gathered crochet flowers on the torso. Additionally, the long ruffle waterfall-like streams down the skirt of my work echos Rococo’s signature cascading trims and fluid silhouettes.

What materials and processes did you use?

I created my work using soft cotton yarn held together with a thin gold thread, creating a natural yet subtly shimmering texture. Through the process of crochet, I utilised a combination of basic and decorative crochet stitches to shape the bodice, form the flowers, and build flowing ruffles down the skirt. Each floral element was crocheted separately, then hand-stitched onto the dress to create dimension. This process allowed me to control shape, layering, and movement, resulting in a detailed, nature-inspired garment.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

One of the key challenges I encountered while constructing this piece was perfecting the triangular point at the base of the back of the bodice. Each trial resulted in a shape that was either too long, too curved, or simply disproportionate on the mannequin. After struggling to find a solution, I reflected on the very first technique I learned which was the granny square, and incorporated three rows of a corner increase at the centre back. Ironically, after all that, the point became hidden beneath the layered flowers, making the difficulty feel both frustrating and comical.

flow explores curiosity and experimentation in art.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

Tron Legacy – Colour and use of simulated light effects as well as high contrast style with bright lights against a dark background.

Vera Molnar’s Structure of Squares – use of computer algorithms to create complex artworks.

ACMI’s exhibition Beings – inspired playful experimentation with computer generated and interactive artworks.

What materials and processes did you use?

I made use of TouchDesigner to create particle systems and do real-time 3D rendering and simulations, allowing me to create complex systems based on mathematics and physics. I developed my own colour tracking system to allow me to make my work interactive and adjust the simulation based on the audience’s movement. I also made use of real-time post-processing to enhance colour and create trails for each particle, as well as introducing bloom to support the appearance of glow.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

Developing and refining my simulation algorithm to more accurately reflect how gravity moves particles while also troubleshooting computer errors and limitations proved both challenging and enjoyable. I had to improve my understanding of both the underlying physics and mathematics as well as how to approximate them using a computer simulation, often running into issues with going beyond what my computer was capable of, forcing me to make compromises and learn how to better optimize my system. This process led me to experiment with many different post-processing styles to try and find something that both captured the style I wanted and didn’t crash my computer while running.

Transformations: A Reflection of Identity explores how historical art and culture can influence modern art making, and how we can use fashion to express ideas about gender and identity.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

Historical Fashion and Art. My love for historical garments, like 1500’s Stays, hoops, historical patterns like the French Toile de Jouy, and traditional methods like embroidery, inspired many elements of my design.

Fashion Designers like Dior and Alexander McQueen. These designers often used historical elements in their designs, and this helped me source my own inspirations from my interest in history.

My own experiences with my gender and identity, and how I use fashion to express these ideas also influenced the final garment significantly.

What materials and processes did you use?

I used predominantly cotton-backed satin, reused calico canvas, quilting padding, and spiral metal boning for the corset. It’s printed with a woodblock Toile de Jouy design in dark blue, which I hand‑drew, laser‑cut, and then hand‑carved onto an A3 woodblock. I finished it with hand‑painted details in a lighter blue.
The corset also features recycled seatbelt garter accents, metal buckles, and a bridal tulle train that attaches with buckles.
I hand‑embroidered a lattice pattern with a mix of beads onto a poly‑satin camisole. I also incorporated a pearl‑embroidered black denim garter belt with pleather straps and metal buckle detailing.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

I decided to create the pattern for the corset myself, and this took a couple of weeks and multiple samples to get the fit correct for my model, and for the large hip shape to be visually pleasing. This was pretty challenging as I had to perfect a very complex shape and pattern, whilst working with non-stretch materials.

Boodjura explores balance, connection and care. It is my way of respecting animals, plants, people and spirit a reflection on Country itself.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

The artist Daniel Boyd. He inspired me through his use of dotting artworks that create an illusion of fragmentation when viewed up close, but form a complete image when seen from a distance. This effect reflects Australian history and the gaps within it—gaps that only First Nations people can teach and communicate through their art.
This inspires me to create my own stories and ideas through symbolism, and to build a broader image both mentally and physically when viewing my work from afar.

Learnings of country form Uncle Paul (elder from Shoalhaven NSW).

What materials and processes did you use?

Synthetic polymer paint and coloured fibre tip pen on canvas, eucalyptus leaves, eucalyptus branches and string.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

The most interesting part of my work is the idea of a double-sided canvas that would hang, allowing the audience to interact with my work, and move around it, slowly watching the work change from a blackened, ashy scene, renewed to a whimsical birth of life and renewal. It allowed me to explore my interests in nature and how my ancestors cared and pay respect to Country.

Mondo explores the concept of capturing a moment in time.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

My 15 year old cat named Mondo and our relationship over the years.

Artist Norman Rockwell who captured the beauty of everyday life through painting.

Lana Del Rey’s contemplative music, particularly her ninth studio album which I listened to while creating my artwork.

What materials and processes did you use?

Mondo is one painting in a series of three self-portraits of myself and my cat created using oil paint on canvas paper. I first traced my images in green pencil onto each of the pages, before using a fine warm wash to tone the canvas. Then, I slowly added shadows and highlights into the images, working on all three panels (that formed a bigger body of work) simultaneously. The final layers of paint were applied thickly and loosely to mimic the gestural brushstrokes of impressionists like Paul Cezanne. In total, the process took several weeks, excluding trials and test images completed over the year.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

It is both interesting and challenging to attempt to capture your own likeness in a self-portrait. Perhaps even more difficult is to capture a recognisable likeness over several moments in time, when I was four, eighteen and eleven, respectively. I aim to create an image that is recognisably consistent to myself, people who know me and even a wider audience who may be comparing the faces in the paintings only.

Follow explores a visualisation of the interplay between fate and personal agency.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

I was influenced by the works of Hope Gangloff when creating this composition. She emphasises the figures in her paintings by creating a highly detailed world around them, each element working in harmony, a characteristic I intended to recreate.

The visual aesthetic of my work was inspired by the music of Imogen Heap. Her songs are layered with magical sounding synths and whilst I was painting, the whimsical elements of her tracks seeped into my work’s surreal appearance.

The composition of Follow was inspired by Tarot cards, which commonly have figures in odd and awkward positions adorned with flora and ornate elements surrounding them. I wanted to harbour this look to reference Tarot’s link to fate and destiny.

What materials and processes did you use? 

For this piece I refined the skin tones and softness by working in thin layers of oil paint. I began with the yellow base tone, then gradually added cool brown shadows, followed by pinks, and finally a top glaze of white, which created a diffused, luminous complexion that reinforced the ethereal mood of the work. This layering process ensured depth and subtle tonal variation, distinguishing the figures as central whilst also balancing out the complex background.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work? 

I found the use of storytelling through visual language to be an interesting journey, as I intended for the piece to be very busy yet still organised and intentional. Every element symbolizes something linking to my overarching concept. For example, the braids representing the figures’ relationship and their intimacy, evoking how autonomy and fate act together as one to shape one’s life’s direction. This visual language developed from a prompt given to me by my mentor Belle, which was to collect images and symbols I enjoy and build a narrative around them, that is where the hanging beads, floral lace and use of green fauna come from originally.

The Echo of Someone Else’s Memory explores how my family have made me who I am.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

Zdzislaw Beksinski – This was the artist I primarily researched this year for my class. I found his meticulous oil painting process and attitude towards the interpretation of his work very interesting. I used his thin layering technique and a similar approach to colour in my work.

The Picture of Dorian Gray – I read this book during the later stages of creating my selected work, and the title, The Echo of Someone Else’s Memory, is a quote from one of its characters, Lord Henry. It is from one of his monologues on how he believes people to be solely the “echo” of their experiences and other people – which I found spoke closely to my work’s theme.

The Lonely Pallette – This is a podcast whose aim is to “return art history to the masses”. I have a great interest in art history and I owe a variety of ideas for The Echo of Someone Else’s Memory to the knowledge of different movements and artists I have learnt about through this podcast, such as Rene Magritte and John Bratby.

What materials and processes did you use?

For this work I used an acrylic paint underpainting and oil paints on a hand stretched canvas. I felt hand-stretching the canvas was important, as a lot of this work calls to attention the importance of its process – the underpainting is visible, and the sides expose the raw canvas. The underpainting primarily relied on warm tones to provide warmth to the portraiture, and the oil paint was applied in layers, thinned with baby oil, to build up depth of form and tone.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

Stepping out of my comfort zone to create a less literal presentation of my concept was the most interesting and challenging part of my process. Typically, I tended to lean more into my ability to portray realism in order to present an idea. However, for The Echo of Someone Else’s Memory, I wished to explore not only surrealism, but the idea of creating a self-portrait without myself in it, both of which required me to step out of my artistic comfort zone and think more conceptually.

Lunch explores the elusive issues surrounding commercial fishing, where beautiful and unique aquatic animals are mistakenly caught and killed through poor fishing practices. Reflected through a human’s sardine can, the work offers a lyrical glimpse into this tragic reality.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

Love for drawing from a very young age, art has always been an outlet and huge hobby for me

Having grown up with pet dogs, mice, guinea pigs and my visiting my grandparents animal farm over the years has developed a strong love towards animals. Looking after and loving animals has deepened my appreciation and concern for them.

Living in bayside Melbourne and more broadly Australia I have particularly always have had a love for the ocean. I spend every summer or family holidays to Queensland on the beach, swimming, surfing, tanning so being able to address and draw aquatic animals really reflects my love for them.

What materials and processes did you use?

I used a watercolour wash as the first layer and background of the work. I then built layers of colour with Prismacolour coloured pencils to achieve all the detail and features. I chose to work on a 75x100cm wooden panel for its extremely smooth surface and ability to layer coloured pencil effectively.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

This artwork was very time consuming to produce working on such a large scale. I found it challenging to consistently maintain realism and quality due to the time constraints of the Year 12 workload. The great support from the friends, family and teachers helped me to maintain motivation and passion for my practice.

Ribbons explores themes of memory, dissociation, and the shifting nature of identity and self-worth through the deconstruction of a portrait into swirling ribbons, suspended in deep space. Through digital manipulation and inspiration from MC Escher’s Bond of Union, I’ve transformed the human form into an otherworldly composition, experimenting with Escher’s iconic spiraling ribbons illusion and mysterious floating orbs.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

MC Escher: Throughout the year I have taken a deep fascination with the illusion work of MC Escher and his immaculate intricacy and attention to detail. His illustrations are precise, and hand-drawn which makes it all the more impressive. He has inspired my work to pay close attention to the smaller details, to feel comfortable in manipulating and warping my original work, as well as allowing myself to embrace the combination of my skills, for example in my piece Ribbons I’ve used both photography and digital rendering.

Surrealism: As somebody who has grown up with a love for the strange and unusual, I take heavy inspirations from works that represent more than what meets the eye, especially if they ask questions and push the boundaries of what reality is capable of. I love to draw inspiration from media and film, especially psychological thriller and sci-fi (for example, ‘Donnie Darko’ and ‘The X-Files’), which toy with people’s nperception and state of mind, as well as artists from the 20th century which specialize in dreamlike imageryand the imagination. This is prevalent in my work, as it invites the viewer to explore a meaning unique to their own personal experiences whilst also asking questions about human emotion and generating its own visual appeal.

Contrast + Light: One of my main obsessions throughout my portfolio was to perfect my techniques ofcapturing light, creating strong contrasts and presenting powerful cutting lines in my work. I believe that these Elements and Principles combined create a more interesting and visually compelling image, taking a piece from good to great. My final photograph, Ribbons uses gradients as well as harsh splitting lines to emphasize the form of the ribbon illusion, and to ensure visual variety and interest.

What materials and processes did you use?

I used a Cannon EOS 1200D camera with a Standard Lens to capture the image, then brought the image into photoshop to begin creating sections for the Ribbon effect, first by removing large areas and keeping the most recognizable features. On another layer, I use the lasso tool to select the area which describes the spiraling ribbon, and use the airbrush tool to add dimension. I then darken the background and add highlights around the edges of each section, before adding floating orbs surrounding my subject. Adjustments are made to the coloring of the piece, and a white border is added for framing.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

For me, the most interesting part was being able to explore so many different avenues for how to create my final work. Towards the end of the unit, I had thought of so many amazing things I could do in the future and it motivated me to continue to pursue photography and the arts in the future. I loved the research, the experimentation, the documentation, and the rewarding feeling of seeing my work finally completed after going through the creative process.

I think the most challenging part for me was the time restriction. In July of this year, I had undergone a life changing spinal surgery which significantly diminished the amount of time I would have had to properly complete my work to the highest of my ability. It took over 10 weeks to recover enough in order to attend school again. However regardless of this setback, I was able to complete all of the work required for assessment in time for the end of the year, which I believe is one of my biggest achievements. Even though I had gone through something so major, I was still able to overcome the complications and produce something that is beyond my own expectations.

Unique explores the theme of individuality; it acknowledges that we are all different and have our own personal challenges. It presents how three young individuals come to terms with living with a rare disease called Scleroderma, this disease creates the over production of collagen, generating the tightening of skin and tissues within the body. Randomly, it affects each person differently, some mildly and some extensively. This artwork showcases how three individuals live with this disease, accepting their differences, connecting to each other and continued to live with courage and grace.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

My personal experience. Being diagnosed with Scleroderma has shaped the way I view the body and its challenges, allowing me to portray the condition with honesty and emotion.

Stories of others with Scleroderma. Hearing how other young people experience the disease inspired the differences shown in each artwork and helped me highlight each person’s unique journey.

Artists who explore identity and body (Brock Elbank and Bruce Gilden). Artists who focus on individuality and vulnerability influenced my style and helped me decide how to visually express both physical and emotional strength.

What materials and processes did you use?

I used a remote shutter‑release button to take photographs of myself with a DSLR camera. I also directed my teacher to assist in capturing some of my self‑portraits. I used Photoshop to digitally enhance and edit my photographs, and I used Illustrator to render the background visuals.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating our work?

Creating an artwork that was so deeply personal was a massive challenge. Ensuring that I was respectful with my models and always ensured that I did not overextend the boundaries of what they were comfortable with in terms of being photographed and what information I would provide about them within the artwork. Learning and discussing the impacts and experiences that other young people living with the same disease, and how they conquer their personal challenges was truly interesting and enhanced my engagement of my artworks.

Tea party explores the complicated relationship between humans and nature, questioning why we see animals as separate from ourselves.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

Shaun Tan’s Tales of the inner city. I was first drawn to this book at eight, where my early fascination with art, animals, and literature make Tan’s work feel like a natural extension of the things I struggled to express at the time. This picture book stuck with me, and his surreal imagery combined with poetic storytelling shaped the emotional atmosphere of my work, particularly the emphasis on animals being quiet observers of human behaviour. This perspective not only encouraged my approach to blending whimsy with discomfort, but also pushed me to prompt viewers in confronting the everyday forms of environmental and ethical neglect.

Personal experiences with animals. The specific animals chosen for the sculptures stemmed from my personal experiences. I own two cats, and
while researching the domestication and treatment of animals, I became fascinated (and unsettled) by the ways humans impose control over other species. I noticed how I would pick up my cats for affection and then put them down to continue my day. This behavior parallels the way the teapot cat is filled and drained, symbolising how human interactions often prioritise our comfort over the autonomy and wellbeing of animals.
I also recalled a core memory of riding an elephant bareback in Thailand. While in the moment it felt magical, like I was some sort of ‘animal whisperer’, looking back the sadness in the elephant’s eyes speaks volumes about the hidden cost of human entertainment and control.

NGV’s ‘Cats & Dogs’ exhibition. I visited this exhibition earlier this year, and I had such mixed feelings. Some of the playful depictions of the animals initially drew me in, but on closer inspection some of the works felt unsettling and reflected human control and care. This inspired me to explore a similar contrast in my own practice, using whimsy to engage viewers while revealing emotional layers beneath the surface.

What materials and processes did you use?

I employed polymer clay to sculpt a series of animal body parts (cat head, mouse torso, rhino head, feet and tale, and an elephant torso) and stuck them onto a traditional ceramic teapot/cup to merge domestic craft with surreal narrative. The clay was moulded directly onto the ceramics, to create a seamless transition, then baked and painted with fine details. The materials themselves were vital to the work’s meaning: the teapots and cups symbolise domestic comfort and human control, while the fragile and course clay animals highlight vulnerability and exploitation. This contrast reinforces the tension between familiarity and ethical reflection in human–animal relationships.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

The part I found most challenging was balancing sadness with whimsy. I wanted the piece to appear playful and engaging at first glance, but for closer inspection to reveal the distress and vulnerability of the animals. Initially, I focused on neutral, downturned eyes, but this did not have the desired effect, and many viewers missed the intended meaning. To address this, I added charcoal shading to the eyes and deep pink tones to the feet, highlighting the pain and struggle the animals were experiencing and making the emotional tension of the work more visible.

The Story Between Us explores the enduring bond between my grandparents, revealing how love, resilience, faith, and a shared history of memory and migration shape their connection and sense of identity. Their blurred wedding album photos symbolises the way memories may fade in detail with age, yet remain vivid in emotion, creating a narrative within the piece.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

My grandparent’s relationship, migration story, and emotional resilience were the main inspiration for my piece. Observing their gestures, expressions and the bond they share directly inspired the composition, symbolism and emotional tone of The Story Between Us.

Artists such as Paul Cadden, Kim Buck and John P. Smolko heavily influenced my work as these artists’ approaches to hyperrealism and expressive drawing influenced my technique. Particularly hyperrealism artist Paul Cadden whose main subject matters depict elderly people communicating emotion through their expressions. His work guided my decisions around my materials and techniques, fine details, and the way I captured subtle emotion through drawing.

Old family photographs and personal storytelling shaped the narrative of my work, as photo albums were constantly brought out at my grandparents’ house to share their experiences and our cultural heritage.

What materials and processes did you use?

I photographed my grandparents on an iPhone and edited the image in Photoshop to create a black and white composition with a coloured photo album and a solid black background. On A1 grey-toned paper, I transferred the outline using graphite, before working in small sections with compressed white and black (B-4B) charcoal pencils. I built layers by applying white charcoal first, blending with blending stumps, then refining form and texture with additional charcoal. Fine details were added using white and grey gel pens with stippling techniques. The photo album was drawn with Prismacolour pencils to contrast within the monochromatic drawing.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

What I found most challenging in creating my artwork was achieving the precision required for realism, while maintaining this level of quality under strict time constraints. Capturing accurate proportions and creating different textures, such as lifelike skin and clothing, required complete focus and commitment. Additionally, translating intangible ideas such as fading memory, resilience, and connection to produce a symbolic artwork was difficult. What I found most interesting about the process was drawing on such a large scale, which encouraged me to incorporate finer details that all contributed to the impact of a life-sized image. Using both charcoal and coloured pencils allowed me to create emphasis and depth, enhancing the overall artwork, and the process felt more personal as I was drawing my grandparents.

Innocence is a Bitch explores the tumultuous years of adolescence. This painting captures the drama and emotional upheaval teenagers experience between the age of twelve and seventeen. It explores being a child and the shock you experience as you become a teenager and awaken to how unfair and tragic the world can be.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

My inspiration comes from my lived experience and the connections with the people I love most in this world. This work captures my youngest sister Eloise and my best friend Tesla while we are waiting in the carpark of our martial arts class.

My favorite artist has always been, and still is, Frida Kahlo. She uses her inner life and symbolism to portray her lived experience and access collective truth. Over the VCE years I was also by artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat, but to be honest as much as I appreciate other artists, I draw my inspiration from trying to make sense of my own world through my language of visual expression, being dyslexic has been a hard road, in trying to find ways to express the depth and breadth of my understanding and vision.

Another powerful source of inspiration for me and core to myself expression is music. Music and playing the guitar and studying VCE Music carried me through my teenage years and helped me regulate and process my emotions. Tesla in the picture is a brilliant musician and my sister sings. I feel like with art and music you can make things look pretty but when shit gets real and the hard times fall, these are also the very things that help carry you through and grow you through the tumult.

What materials and processes did you use?

Throughout the entirety of Year 12, I explored a multitude of different mediums such as charcoal, graphite pencil, oil painting, etching and watercolour painting. I am always trying to play and explore; this was inspired by Jean Michel Basquiat as well as my own inner curiosity to play with mediums. I am most proficient as a painter in watercolour. This experimentation with oil reflects the search of novel experiences as a teenager, the search for self and stability. The process I used in the creation of my final involved quite a few weeks of refining my technique in oil painting, I created multiple oil paintings, pushing the limits and understanding the boundaries of the new medium. Finally, after feeling more comfortable with oil paint, I decided to take the risk and create my final in oil. Risk is a big part of my art process, before the last term of my schooling I decided to embark upon a mission with a medium completely foreign to me. Whilst I would look around at my peers who were all refining their medium, I found myself drawing a fine line between experimentation and stupidity. The risk of it all helped me create an artwork I believe is fresh and different, mirroring the essence of adolescence.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

The first challenge I encountered whilst creating this work was the initial use of the oil painting medium, as I am mostly a watercolourist the unique way that oil paint spreads across the canvas, as well as how the colours sit together and upon the canvas is very different to my normal watercolour. The proportions of some body parts at times came up as challenge, but the main challenge I experienced in the creation of this artwork was battling the emotional whirlpool inside me, a head full of doubts, a heart full of pain, rushing towards the end of my VCE process.

Fallacies of Perception (Autoscopy) explores the idea of escaping reality and the emotions that are felt during my act of escape. Autoscopy is the second of three works in the body Fallacies of Perception and it depicts myself looking at my body from another perspective, one that is outside my body as I have escaped it and inherently escaped my reality. The work deals with emotions of sadness and feelings of displacement, hence autoscopy.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

Kazimir Malevich has been a huge source of inspiration for all my works this year. Malevich pioneered the Suprematism movement which focuses on abstract art based upon “the supremacy of pure artistic feeling.” This guided me in the creation of my work as I focused on the importance of the feelings I had rather than the visual appearance of my art. However, I do feel that the physicality and visual aspects of art aid in creating feeling/emotion and the reproduction of that feeling in the viewer.

Another source of inspiration for me was visiting the Neue National Galerie in Berlin early this year. Seeing Gerhard Richter’s abstract work up close propelled me into attempting to project feeling and energy onto the viewer through the simple use of colour, direction and composition. Autoscopy features a myriad of bright energetic colours, yet painted in a way that suggests sadness through my facial expression and the indication of water under my eyes through the colour blue.

Finally, I was heavily inspired by the human mind and its ability to visually alter reality and adapt emotional responses to life events. As this piece is a visualisation of the act of escaping reality I wanted to incorporate a version of myself that was unlike typical reality and realism.

What materials and processes did you use?

Autoscopy is a large scale oil painting. I chose to paint it on unstretched canvas as I feel it adds to the rawness of the work and I enjoy that the painting is not trying to be anything more than it is. I began with the background and worked my way into the middle of the painting, leaving the nose till last. Finally, I painted the border with house paint as it leaves no streaks and creates a clean, sharp matte finish.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

As my work is a self-portrait it was ultimately hardest to grapple with my own feelings and project them onto canvas. Choosing the topic: escaping reality, to explore this year has forced me to explore myself, figure out why I escape and what this looks like. I couldn’t boil myself down into just one artwork, so Autoscopy is the second of three works in the body of work Fallacies of Perception and I find it interesting to now stand back and look at the three versions of myself that I’ve created.

Reflection in Practice explores how ordinary studio objects through light, reflection, and careful observation can be transformed into compelling visual subjects that reveal beauty in the everyday.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected:

Cressida Campbell – Campbell’s still-life works, particularly Nasturtiums (2002), inspired my focus on elevating ordinary domestic and studio objects through careful composition, cropped viewpoints, and subtle tonal shifts. Her meticulous attention to surface, pattern, and quiet moments informed my approach to slowing down observation and treating overlooked objects with visual significance.

Janet Fish – Fish’s use of reflective materials such as glass and metal influenced my exploration of distortion, reflection, and light. Her bold colour contrasts and dynamic reflections encouraged me to experiment with layered paint application to capture how surrounding colours interact across reflective surfaces.

My studio environment and daily practice – The everyday tools within my studio, including clips, cans, and paper, became central subject matter. By repeatedly observing these objects in different lighting conditions, I was able to translate personal routines into a still-life composition that reflects both familiarity and contemplation.

What materials and processes did you use?

I used oil paint on canvas, working from photographs taken in controlled studio lighting. The process involved accurate drawing, layered underpainting, subtle colour mixing, and glazing to achieve realistic reflections and form. I blended warm and cool tones to portray reflections in metal and glass, and experimented with brushwork for surface texture. Objects were arranged and re-arranged to refine composition and balance, responding to critique feedback throughout. The final work synthesises observation, structural coherence, and detailed tonal refinement.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

The most interesting challenge was accurately capturing reflections and distorted surfaces such as the tin can and glass-like objects. Translating how colour, light, and form interact in real life into paint demanded sustained observation and technical refinement. Balancing vibrant elements with calmer tones also required careful planning to retain unity without losing focus or overwhelming the composition.

Tones of the Everyday explores the appreciation of the mundane within domestic spaces. Each panel represents the perspective from each of the family member: my father, mother, sister and myself. I have employed complementary, vibrant colours schemes throughout the first three paintings as it imbues the setting with vitality. This starkly contrasts with the fourth illustration that is dull, desaturated, and blurred, presenting the space in its unembellished state, inviting the viewers to reflect the fleeting beauty of mundane. Hence, by learning to appreciate this, can we infuse our lives with colour.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

Zoey Frank’s Breakfast Series, where her colourful triptych depicts various moments within daily life, inspired me to also use vibrant colour schemes to illustrate various individual pieces in my own practice.  J.C. Leyendecker’s painting techniques, especially his dynamic interplay between bold and meticulous paint strokes.  Neil Ross’ digital illustrations that employ geometrical forms to establish a precise and clean visual effect.

What materials and processes did you use?

My work started off as digital illustrations on an application called Procreate, where I rendered each piece using the default flat brush all on a single layer. Once completed, I exported the files and printed them on satin paper, then mounted the prints onto A4 foamcore boards.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

I found it interesting that the different colour palettes invited various interpretations of each piece’s mood. However, achieving the correct perspective, as well as rendering the details were quite challenging. I also struggled with time management because the pieces were very time consuming.

Autoethnography explores my experience being mixed race.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

The artist Nick Cave inspired me for his use of textiles and the way in which he presents issues through wearable art. Cave had a large influence on how I chose to preset my work due to how he adapts human bodies to wear his social commentary as an act of defiance and characterisation

Travel and being immersed in new places is where I feel most inspired. Travel reminds me to consider the diversity of cultures, artists and people in our modern world. Traveling through high school repeatedly pushed me to consider different perspectives

Laruen Halsey inspires me due to the way she remixes current and preceding culture that is relevant to her. Her ability to present her own identity in a fresh way inspired me throughout my practice. Like how Halsey looks to the world around her in California, across the year I considered pop culture, tradition and contemporary science in the creation and making of my work.

What materials and processes did you use?

I used synthetic hair, my own hair and my mother’s hair to signify my Kenyan heritage. I crocheted doilies out of hair and yarn to signify my Australian heritage. I switched between crochet and embroidery techniques to create the dress that hangs from my body as a manifestation of my experience being from both these cultures. The yarns were mainly cotton and acrylic.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

I found it challenging to forget about functionality when creating the work. The work is not a clothing piece, but instead a second skin, so choosing to not have a flattering cut or even include sleeves was hard. It was also challenging learning to write and create my own crochet patterns so that I could properly document the process. Despite it being difficult, it was very rewarding and it was interesting to learn to crochet with hair for the first time.

Residual explores the interconnection between the skin, the person and the experiences to which we all have and what then remains.

What inspires you? List three major sources of inspiration and briefly explain how each one informed the work selected.

Olivia Arthur. For my development and creating my final I was working with people in vulnerable positions, and it was so important for me to ensure the comfort of those who were standing in front of a camera for me. I was inspired by the use of the large format analog camera in Arthur’s works Waiting for Lorelei and Murmurings of the Skin, where the camera itself becomes a part of the artwork, and introduces means for an intense dialogue between photographer and subject.

The people around me. Because my work was so heavily focused around aspects of intimacy and embrace, it was so important to draw from personal experiences and the ones of the people around me, as connection is something that every single person on this earth experiences. I was wanting to look into how they are connected to those around them, those they care about and their own skin, and dissect all that goes into the nuanced sculptures of what makes people who they are, even if it is unseen.

I was also influenced by the works of photographer Marina Monaco, director Luca Guadagnino, and painter Cecily Brown, the care to which they convey intimacy is more a demonstration of human beings being human rather than a glorified objectification. It was important to me to carry that through my own work, to not be exploiting or exposing the body but rather using it as a canvas to show our reality.

What materials and processes did you use?

I did photoshoots of intertwined limbs using 35mm film. I then projected those images onto the bare back of the same model to create an imprint onto the body like a double exposure. The stillness required to effectively use a medium format camera in a setting with limited light is a difficult process but it was important to me to capture both the seen and unseen, as the physicality of the film contrasts with the immateriality of the light used to take the image. The images are printed on Hahnemühle’s Torchon FineArt paper, as the texture is reminiscent of skin.

What did you find most interesting and/or challenging about creating your work?

Within the images there is a chemical spill which occurred whilst I was developing the film (a process I always struggle with). Despite this being unintentional, I really embraced it as it led to a really interesting effect and amplified my ideas in regards to the level of obscurity and imperfection that is unavoidable within our existence.