1770 | 2017

1770 | 2017

1770 is located at the base of the Great Barrier Reef.  It is where Cook and his crew anchored offshore and botanist Sir Joseph Banks clambered up the hillside collecting exotic botanical specimens.

In this new series of paintings, I explore the flora of the area, in particular, the Moreton Bay Ash (Corymbia Tessellaris) named for its tessellated bark.  This bark sheds from the waist up to reveal luminous flesh-like limbs. Looking up, these limbs stretch and twist, entwine and reach out to each other, the early morning light catching and illuminating the uppermost leaves and branches. Looking down, fresh concrete curbing; soil scraped clear of vegetation but for a few clusters of remnant forest in the line of concrete driveways.

Solastalgia is a new word.  It is an expression of a sense of melancholia one experiences when confronted by the changes (development and associated environmental degradation) of a place of natural beauty or personal relevance.  Judith Sinnamon March 2017

Attunement to light – how it flows over, plays upon and defines structure, shape and colour – is Judith Sinnamon’s primary concern. Her carefully crafted studies of Australian native flora capture each plant’s singular gesture and presence, compelling the viewer to engage with a unique species as well as to witness the artist’s dialogue with paint.