Mission Statement

Home sick - Woodcut Print

The Disappearance of the Australian Backyard


Living in one of Australia's seaside suburbs the traditional landscape has become an important subject matter for my artistic practice. The suburban sprawl has seen developers squeeze two story townhouses on smaller lots, at the expense of the "Traditional Australian Backyard". Homes are packed in and butted up against one another. There is a sense of loss, we are losing our backyards.


Nostalgic childhood memories of backyard birthday parties, barbeques, hills-hoists, swings, trampolines and picnics were all a part of growing up in the suburbs. We were encircled by nature, gardens, trees, vegetable patches and imagined adventures. All of this is slowly disappearing.


The Disappearance of the Australian Backyard series signifies this sense of loss. Working with a telescopic layering effect, using oil paints on canvas, within the constraints of the focusing circle, the construction and deconstruction  of this space is my primary focus.

This body of work is a voyeuristic glimpse back to the something familiar, the personal space of the backyard which is slowly disappearing into distant memories.