We all have an inner landscape, a private space inhabited by our thoughts and dreams, memories and emotions. It is a space that is inextricably familiar to us, and yet, elusive as well. Sometimes we can access this space at will and sometimes little triggers take us there when we least expect it – an old teddy bear, a song, or a scent – they are the artefacts of our experiences. Michelle Cawthorn’s work is concerned with the way these triggers provoke memories then couple in our subconscious to form new associations. Her works therefore present as enduring manifestations of these couplings. Like the unconstrained and often playful expression of ideas and thoughts through free association, the artworks represent fragments of memory juxtaposed with representational and non-representational forms that are suggestive rather than prescribed.
Michelle Cawthorn