Soon after visiting the Seattle Asian Art Museum, the world shut down as it succumbed to the novel coronavirus.
I found myself isolated in a strange city, needing to hunker down for an indefinite period of time.
I thought a lot about the Chinese landscapes I saw in the museum and how the figures in the landscape were tiny specs, dwarfed by what was happening around them.
This work is a direct response to the global pandemic, feelings of loss, isolation and a desperate longing for my home in the country, sheltered from the horrors of the world.
On one side of the work is my home in Australia, on the other side is my new temporary home in Seattle. Both separated by impassable mountains, crevasses and waterfalls. After months in isolation, I still have not been able to return home.
Courtesy of Michael Reid
paper collage and cardboard, walnut and cherry wood
41 x 40 x 12 cm
Finalist
Judges of the 20th Anniversary Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize: Dr Lara Strongman (Director Curatorial and Digital, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia), Joanna Capon OAM (Art Historian, Curator and Industrial Archaeologist) and Jenny Kee AO (Artist and Fashion Designer).
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