Osmosis Artists

Janelle Mendham

“A Tale… of a Whale at Lake St Clair”, ceramic fired clay, mirror, rock and wood, 2011

“Currawong” (inner view), plaster, rope and rock, 2011

“Currawong” (feather view), plaster, rope and rock, 2011

“Rhythms and Cycles”, ink, charcoal and pastel on paper, 2011

2011 Exhibition

Janelle Mendham

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Artist Statement

A delicate sleeping figure in foetal position emerging through the wall acknowledges Leeawuleena - ‘Sleeping Water’ – the name given to the Lake by the indigenous Aboriginal custodians of the land. More recent naming’s by European settlers like Mount Olympus and Narcissus Bay traverse the realm myth to relate this awe inspiring wilderness with its seductive, dangerous and transformative potential. For the secret quiet depths of the Lake, I made my own myth – A Tale … of a Whale of St Clair and another Tall Tale to keep it company. It is the deepest freshwater lake in Australia and the head of the Derwent River after all.

These works were an accident born from play. Their origins are in a life cast which is suspended and embedded with glimmering white shale from the region. It was to be a night sky with stars less dulled by city lights, but found its own form as a Currawong.

And in this primal realm of transformation and elemental pulls Rhythms and Cycles depicts the exposed root of a fallen tree – one of many along the foreshore. It is at once root and bloom - creation and destruction - still and moving.