Forest Dreaming is a new series of 12 oil paintings set amidst the rainforest of Belgrave,, Melbourne; on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. I made the paintings over the course of 2025. Although the paintings are in a realistic style, they contain intervening anachronisms: images that occurred to me in course of the initial designs, in response to the natural landscapes. The intervening images are symbolic, and often based on lived experiences, memories and feelings for what could exist in each of the forest scenes. Due to this, these interventions are painted as if natural parts of the landscape, which in turn pushes the boundaries of the traditional landscape.

I moved to Belgrave at the beginning of 2025. Suddenly finding myself surrounded by walls of greenery instead of the grey walls of the city, I set out to depict my new environment. The anachronistic interventions within the paintings – a giant, a demon, frogs, decaying structures – represent an important evolution of my work, and it is the result of having very much been influenced by the New Surrealist movement and an interest in the Magical-Real in art.

Hopefully my admiration and awe for the natural world comes across in Forest Dreaming, and resonates with you.

Catalogue coming soon