Victoria Hempstead, Old Man Banksia II (Banksia serrata), 2020. Mild steel, water (evaporated), salt and resin, 70 x 50cm. Courtesy: the artist and Gallery Sally Dan Cuthbert, Sydney.

Kindling is an ignition – a quiet beginning gaining momentum, moving towards inevitable change. This energy and movement is explored in Victoria Hempstead’s first solo exhibition with Gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert. As a response to the recent Australian bushfires of 2019 and 2020, Kindling grew from a need to witness and respond to the aftermath. Using her existing metal practice, Hempstead incorporates the materials collected from various sites including charcoal, bark and ash.

On her journey through various sites, Hempstead recognised the significance of environmental stressors on the Australian bush. These stressors and the sense of urgency that accompany them are reflected in her work which highlights the opposite states of permanence and ephemerality, of landscape and body, of control and chaos. A convergence of sculpture and mark-making, performance and installation, Hempstead allows her medium and process to play heavily into the dialogue of her pieces. Time is represented as both a continuous motion and visual material; each gesture creates a link between artist and material. In the process of creation, the visual language is presented as an intersection of memory, navigation and place.

The gallery is open and practicing COVID-19 social distancing measures.

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