its not all about me
Here you’ll find a selection of my work. Explore my projects to learn more about what I do.
Bloodlines
Dipping into the lives of the people of The Rodd – searching out the stories , winnowing the myths from the realities, immersing myself into the landscape and archive I found sadness, and joy; I read difficult and uplifting narratives and collaborated and shared with others fine tuning their own tales.
It started with Fanny – a heifer calf born and bred at The Rodd and took me to the deeply distressing episode in the history of Australia that continues to have repercussions today. Woven in is the story of Sidney Nolan his Irish roots, his travels with Cynthia across the Outback, his work recording the impact of and on animals who broke through fences and pastoralists who enclosed indigenous land. The colonisers not only sought perfection in their animals but imposed their own version on ‘others’.
Using imagery, writing and original photographs the work tells of some of this.
We advise that there are some confronting topics addressed in this work, including massacres and genocide. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should be advised that there may be images of people who have passed away.
A2 poster on card - collaged text and imagery 2024
Scorched earth
A3 folded artwork mounted on card and collaged text, hand print and original imagery 2024
8 steps to femicide
Step 3 paper on card, paint and marker pen with text 2025 40cm x 60cm
Step 8 - femicide - paper on card, original lino print with text 40cm x 40cm
I wish - hanging by a thread
" I hung a wish upon a tree. It was so close to Christmas and I wanted so little but so much. I looked to see what others had written and hesitated; who doesn’t want world peace or lifelong happiness? I would settle for peace at home – that the kids would stop squabbling and my husband to come home less exhausted and worried about everything. It should be my job to worry about everything but instead I pick up my pen and write. It frustrates him; he sees all the things that there are do do; practical actions; meals to be plan; clothes to wash while I struggle to find the right words to complete the sentence. The right sentence to complete the paragraph and maybe just one word that releases the magic of my imagination; I can do it I don’t need to wish I need to believe and trust in the process; and of course, I will do the washing and make a meal and wrangle the kids somehow and hold my precious man close and do it all again tomorrow."
Hand made paper with label on card 2024
The stories in between -
How well do we know our own history? We pay the subscription and build the tree – noting the births, deaths and marriages. But there is much that remains absent. I went looking for the stories in between – to listen carefully to the silence. Using traditional archives, collaborative endeavours and today’s technology I have bought into the light women whose stories I believe deserve to be told.
Who knew just how diverse and rich these back stories would be? Each individual contribution stood for women, probably born in the late 19th century, who lived through two world wars, depression, emancipation and rapidly changing cultural norms and values.
The Stories in Between is a collection to celebrate womanhood and motherhood both known and unknown. The Zines at the heart of the work have exploded into imagery and text, and lino cut printing, to create a dynamism reminiscent of activism and protest.
Paper gathering stories 2023
20 women 5 stories
On a sunny evening in June a meeting of our local WI convened to celebrate their heritage and to hear about archiving in today’s world of superfast everything and digital complexity. But the method of choice was not virtual reality but bringing forward into the light the lives of their own grandmothers, to share the history (herstory) not in individual biographies but as a collective and collaborative endeavour. Who knew just how diverse and rich these back stories would be. Each individual contribution stood for a woman, probably born in the late 19th century, who lived through two world wars, depression, emancipation and rapidly changing cultural norms and values. Every mark and word on the paper was important, each name and every memory or recollection was precious.
2 x A3 Text and print collaged on board 2023
Absent and silent
Source material for Zines 2023
3 x A4 zines paper and inserts 2023
original photograph © Davis 2023
Not that grocer's daughter
There are many things I remember about Grandma, that she was profoundly deaf, smelt of lavender and made the worst scones ever. That’s where I learned the art of excess jam and cream. But she was a pioneer a woman teacher all her life working with a disability teaching the least able kids. Not that it always got her respect or appreciation – her contribution was always subsidiary to my grandfather’s, her retirement marked with column inches about his successes; kids would tease and name call behind her back -pretty cheap shot when the only way she could ‘hear’ was to lip read. She would be snapped up by the media today lip reading the asides of celebs and others in public life.
There are other ways in which she is a woman of our time. Her larder (and several shelves in the garage) were always full of jars and bottles of fruit and veg from her garden. From runner beans to plums from blackcurrant jam to piccalilli – the daughter of a grocer and consummate housewife. (Not to be confused with that other grocer’s daughter – she who will not be named).