His Embrace

His embrace celebrates moments of intimacy and shared memories between two lovers drawing on the

sacredness of giving your heart to someone you love. Through figurative painting and sculptural

elements, I hope for viewers to connect ideas of nurture and the embrace through this queer lens.

This exhibition is inspired by the formation of a long-distance relationship I witnessed between friends

in my inner circle. Through this voyeuristic lens of romance and detachment I explore the

presence and absence of love and how this is physically communicated through touch, embrace and

environment. This process of caring for a heartbroken friend has offered myself an opportunity to re-

examine how we portray certain emotions when circumstances are futile.

After reflection upon my own queer relationships, I became heavily influenced by my friends where this

universal feeling of heart-ache and pain lies. I focus on the soft moments of happiness and

safety in acts of embrace to confront the themes and reality of loss and separation. I explore these

periods through my oil paintings, pushing the boundaries of visual framework in my contemporary and

experimental integrations of sculpture installation. I also explore the concept of sacred memories

through scale shifts in pieces and application of oil paint with consideration to background and framing

devices.

As young queer people we often neglect our true identity, so forming special bonds and relationships

where we feel most safe and ourselves is something that I think needs to be represented and celebrated.

Being a young queer individual exploring new ways to express these ideas is a way for me to make sense

of the world around us and how loves embrace can make the heart grow fonder.

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Photography by Rosina Possingham.