Spots
By May Bluebell
Artist Bio
May Bluebell creates vivid, abstract landscapes inspired by childhood memories of Australian places. With a background in design and fine art, she creates striking compositions using bold colours, simplified organic forms and layers of textures. Her mixed media practice incorporates collage, painting, photography, and printmaking.May Bluebell explores the nature of memory and its connection to place. Growing up in small mining town in the Pilbara region of Western Australia has had an enduring influence, with the red desert landscape featuring centrally in her work. Her practice is an investigation of how information from our past is recalled and reconstructed. It reveals not only the flaws and errors of memory, but also poignant truths. She seeks to capture those landscapes which have a formative influence on us, by considering their emotional impacts beyond physical reality.
Artist Statement / Description of artwork
The artist recently returned to the north, seeking to reconnect with its distinctive colours and surreal landscapes. They were drawn to the faded green lawns juxtaposed against vast stretches of desert, cul-de-sacs, and palm trees tinted red, all gradually merging back into the earth. Walking along familiar tracks behind the town, they revisited spots and rocks imprinted in memory. For the artist, this journey felt like rewinding a used roll of film to shoot again, layering memories into a familiar yet abstract landscape. Through this, the artist captures the blending of past and present, where memory and place converge into a textured visual narrative.