SEAN O’BRIEN

Walking creek lines, climbing jump-ups

Across the past three years, grabbing windows of travel opportunity between lockdowns, I have undertaken several journeys and residencies in remote locations in Australia; Mutawintji and Fowlers Gap in far-west NSW, the Mallee in north-west Victoria, and the Vulkathana-Gammon Ranges in South Australia. With sheets of paper in hand I walked dry creek lines and gorges, alone, often many kilometres into the landscape, creating drawings in situ - sitting in the sand and with only the sound of the wind, birds, and my own breath as company. The experience was often confronting, but equally energising. The resulting drawings are a response to the immediate environment, but also a reaction to the isolation/solitude, both literally and figuratively. The drawings are influenced by the raw arid landscape, the gnarled trees, the sandy beds, the stark rock faces, but are rendered - in charcoal, pastel, and oil stick - with an emotional intensity and a brusque use of the materials closer to a point of abstraction. In retrospect I feel the upheaval that society was experiencing partly guided my drawing hand, and yet the ancient river red gums, and the pervasive spirit of the land, offered a calming and stabilising presence. On the final leg of the journey, I left the creek lines and climbed nearby hills, or jump-ups, for the wider view, the distant horizon. The world felt as if it was opening up again. I produced over a hundred drawings during the walks, and this show presents a representative selection of 18. I hope they go some way towards expressing the uneasy beauty of the country I visited. I acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands on which I walked, sat, and drew, and pay my respects to their Elders, both past and present. The Bandjigali and Wandjiwalgu of the Barrier Ranges and Mutawintji; the Wergaia of the Mallee; and the Andyamathanha of the Vulkathana-Gammon Ranges. 

Sean O’Brien, December 2022.