'Ghost gum' — Hannah Nowlan

Artist Statement

My work is long steeped in themes of mythology, spirits, and sensory ghosts, explores abstract landscapes interwoven with a myriad of autobiographical motifs. Hybrid figures, moons, water, and shell patterns are recurring motifs that evoke a sense of transparency and transience, creating dream-like compositions that reflect on selfhood, family ties, and afterlife. Each piece undergoes a transformative process, from the raw materials prepared in my studio to the final act of painting, preserving, and framing. This cyclical creation offers a form of healing, embedding layers of personal memories, histories, and emotions within each image. Inspired by ancestral traditions of painting, I encase my works within handcrafted timber artefacts created by my father. These structured frames act as a method of catharsis, fossilising the narratives I once carried, transforming them into votive objects that represent the timelessness of interpreting landscape.

Theme: SCAPE

Seeing the world through a mythical lens is woven into my practice, allowing me to capture and interpret the spirit of landscape. In my works for SCAPE, I ferment the stillness of the land and my natural encounters over the past two years as I seek to understand the quiet history of my property in Red Hill. Once part of McIlroy’s Quarry, where slate was mined for local roads, the site transformed into a 30-metre-deep oasis, filling with natural springs. This reflective pool now speaks of both transformation and memory. By walking the land and observing the fragments of slate scattered across our paddocks, I’ve begun to uncover not only the history beneath the ground but also my personal geography. Each work distills the stillness of walking, listening, and knowing the land, using the quarry and its springs as a metaphor for deeper self-knowledge and my connection with place in this moment.

— Hannah Nowlan, Red Hill