Margot Welsh
Margot is currently completing a Master of Art, Design and the Environment at the University of Tasmania. Having lived and worked for many years on Flinders Island she is an artist who has been particularly inspired by the light and drama of horizons, clouds and, of course, islands themselves, both on a physical and a metaphorical level. For her the sea is also the subconscious from which landforms surface, looming like memories.
Artist Statement
Life is a journey – through both inner and outer landscapes. Connections between the two can range from moments of sheer joy and beauty to those of dark and disturbing uncertainty. These moments are like islands and landmarks; stepping stones by which we find meaning in our lives, markers across the sea of time, at once both location specific and universal.
My current project involves depicting these islands/markers – tapping into the subconscious and the memory of real places, using islands both symbolically and metaphorically to depict the self (and selves) in both space and time. As far as landforms go, we are most like islands, defining ourselves in relation to the horizon and the surrounding sea between us. This sea also represents the subconscious from which the islands rise up and take form in the imagination.
On a recent trip to Bruny, I responded strongly to the dramatic headlands around Cape Bruny. These ramparts were so graphically etched against the waves and the surrounding horizon, the various views from the lighthouse becoming compass points from which one could redefine one’s position in space.