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Artist Statement
This recent body of work has come out of my 2025 field work in the Noosa Everglades and Hinterland on Kabi Kabi lands. The Noosa Everglades Biosphere is one of only two everglades in the world. It’s nestled within the Cooloola region of the Great Sandy National Park and comprises a spectacular network of pristine waterways and wetlands, connecting the northern Noosa river system to the ocean. The water makes its way through through a massive sand dune from the ocean which acts as a filtration system for the salt water as it moves in land. The Cooloola region was originally named in the language of the Kabi Kabi traditional owners, meaning “the sound the wind makes as it whispers through the branches of the trees”.
Not far from this spot is the Noosa Hinterland and the Glasshouse Mountains, a series of dramatic peaks that protrude from the earth, which are actually volcanic plugs of granite left behind from years of erosion. These peaks contribute an other-worldly feel to the area and became a constant motif throughout this series. I had always thought ‘The Glasshouse Mountains’ a romantic place name, until I read that they were named by Captain James Cook, who thought their steep volcanic peaks looked like those industrial structures of the glass-making furnaces of his home in Yorkshire, England, when he sailed past in 1770. As with the land itself, the names of the mountains were colonised, and yet the mountains have their own songlines, culture and traditional stories, which are not mine to share.
My observational fieldwork is the most enjoyable part of my art practice—time when I feel calm and deeply connected to all that is, in mind, body, and spirit. The watercolours I make, function like descriptive diary entries. They possess a freshness, akin to a poem that arrives upon waking. This time spent in research and observation leads to more complex and formal considerations when I move into larger works in oil. Through the building of translucent layers and the application of washes that bleed and crawl across the surface, I reach for the spaciousness that characterises my diary observations. I aim to present an enchanted landscape that is soft, nuanced, expansive, light and dissolving—all at once.
Theme: ENCHANTMENT
I find it takes time to settle into an unfamiliar landscape. There is a period of exploration and curiosity as my eyes adjust to different forms, both near and far. This leads to a kind of enchantment with the extraordinary that can always be found in wild places. While observing and recording, a deeper enchantment takes hold as I notice and sense everything around me. Small fish swim around my feet, a goanna casually slidies past beneath towering pink paperbarks. The air is filled with the song of the currawong, or the flash of pale-headed rosellas as they flit past. I aim to present an enchanted landscape that is soft, nuanced, expansive, light and dissolving—all at once.
— Sarah Bell, Balnarring, Victoria
