APRIL 25 — MAY 31 | DUO EXHIBITION
KSENIA SHINKARENKO + NATALIE COOTES

TRACE

— a suspended encounter between painting and vessel; elemental works in pigment and clay, carrying the imprint and atmosphere of their making.

Lander—Se presents TRACE, a duo exhibition bringing together Melbourne painter Ksenia Shinkarenko and Mornington Peninsula/South Gippsland ceramicist Natalie Cootes. Working across natural dye and hand-built clay, both artists engage process-led approaches that allow material to register time, gesture and transformation.

Plant matter, raw pigments, minerals and oxides are pressed, pinched and layered across cloth and vessel, forming surfaces shaped through repetition and duration. Each work holds the imprint of its making — a record of seasonal change, material interaction and accumulated gesture. TRACE considers making as elemental form, where colour, texture and structure emerge through natural processes rather than imposed control.

The exhibition centres around a large textile installation by Shinkarenko that drapes through the gallery, forming a suspended interior landscape for Cootes’ ceramic vessels. The naturally dyed fabric introduces softness and movement within the space, pooling and folding across the floor. Vessels are arranged across a long central plinth, creating a spatial dialogue between painting and vessel that draws attention to the shared language of repetition, imprint and transformation.

Grounded in earthy tonal palettes and minimal forms, TRACE presents a sensory installation shaped through natural materials and gradual process. Together, Shinkarenko and Cootes explore how surfaces can hold memory — not only as narrative, but as physical evidence of time, pressure and material change.