This painting is an imagining of our relationship with the Australian landscape — an ancient land, steeped in rich cultural history, and an environment that continues to evolve through its tenacity.
Inspired by the rugged coast lines of Australia specifically those around Sydney’s harbour, ancient lands rise over the ocean. Time past merges with the movement of modern life. Native wildlife looks out from the rocky terrain towards an unknown horizon. Change is a constant and, like the kangaroo, the only way to go is forward. Below, boats navigate their own journeys, unaware of the onlookers.
The tension between what has come before and what lies ahead twists and turns the landscape. How do we nurture a better future for all? Who should be the caretakers of this Country, and how do we respect the natural evolution of things?
I am Kristine Ballard, a Sydney-based contemporary painter based in the Inner West. I work primarily in oil using my signature Fragmatism approach — deconstructing and reconstructing familiar forms through fractured shapes, expressive marks and heightened colour. I am less interested in illustrating a location than in transforming it to reveal something of its character and significance. Light, colour and rhythm become a way of connecting the real landscape with something more conceptual.
My artworks invite you to look at familiar places differently. They are my portal to feeling more connected to the world around me. They provide spaces for you to escape, reignite your wonder for our great southern land and pause to ponder where you think our future lies.