Deirdre Bean: Domestica

Deirdre Bean, Murray’s cottage curtains 2021 oil on canvas 50 x 60 cm Collection: Heather Dunn, Photo: Fine Art Imaging, Courtesy: Deirdre Bean

Domestica is a solo exhibition by Deirdre Bean in which she has responded to three artist residencies: Hill End, Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre and the private home of Dr Timothy Liauw, Springwater.

To find inspiration in ordinary domestic settings, one begins by imagining the guardians of these spaces and how they moved within them. It might be the kitchen bench, the drawing room table, a precious collection of china, or a collection of books. Each tells the story of those who inhabited and decorated their personal spaces. Margaret Olley left painted fingerprints and piles of washing up. Dr Liauw leaves very little; a vase of lilly pillies given to him by a neighbour. Due to the passage of time, the cottage at Hill End holds virtually nothing of Donald Murray apart from the living history of his garden and the tiles behind the wood-fired stove.

Once we leave our domestic space, our personal and private stories are told by the objects that are left behind.