A Sense of Place - words by Zoe Grey
The places we come from shape us. They influence what we do, where we go, how we see the world. For me, the place I grew up inspired my practice as a painter, gave me a deep love for surfing, and taught me the value of home.
I am from Marrawah, a remote rugged town on the far western edge of lutruwita/Tasmania, on the country of the peeraper people. Marrawah is an exposed place, open to massive swells and roaring winds straight out of the open southern ocean. I grew up in a house on the rocky shore my dad built out of old barns and rammed earth. We had a veggie garden that my mum would feed us from and my brother and I would play in the bush, build cubbies and attend the local 30 kid primary school. We learnt to live pretty simply, spend time on our own, and let the weather guide our days. Idilic sure, but lively remotely has its challenges too. It can be isolating, socially restrictive, even boring. Lucky for us, dad is a surfer and he built our home in front of little right hander, so I soon had a passion and a purpose. My older brother Zak learnt to surf, and like most things he did, I followed suit.
I starting learning and playing around when I was 7 years old. Dad would push me off in the white water and I’d look up to Zak out the back. Then at around age 12, I started getting really into it, I began competing and training and spent my teens devoted to surfing. I’d always been interested in art, but never really given it a real crack until year 11 and 12. I had to move away from Marrawah for my final years of school and that’s where I discovered a love for painting. I took pretty much all art classes in those years, had some amazing teachers and from there, decided to study fine arts at university.
Now, I work full time as an artist and my home continues to be a major influence. I make paintings about my experience of Marrawah, my evolving relationship to it, and my connection to that landscape. As where I am in the world and my life shifts and changes, painting has become an important way to nurture a connection to home, to where I from, to where I belong. For me, making art allows me to hold and unpack my connection place.
I also see surfing as a key influence in my work. It is such a big part of my life and every day it invites me to tune into the weather and the natural environment around me. Going surfing is the main way I engage with the land and seascape and being in the water offers an interesting perspective back on the land. I often use that perspective in my paintings as a tool for abstraction, and a way to challenge traditional notions of landscape. Surfing is a creative pursuit in itself too; you are literally drawing lines on a wave. It’s fluid and every time is different and unknown, just like a painting.
My creative process is guided by a desire to evoke a feeling of place, rather than achieving a perfect visual rendition of a scene. This means my paintings can be quite abstracted. I make drawings out in the landscape, little sketches and visual notes, then when I’m painting back in the studio, I respond to them. I’m equally reliant on memory - a lot of my work recalls familiar forms of home that are particularly known or special to me. Preminghana is my favourite spot in Marrawah. It’s a mountain across the bay from our house and it appears in most of what I make. It’s an ancient, beautiful, humbling place and a significant site for Tasmanian Aboriginal people. Being there physically or recalling it through the act of painting helps me remember I am a recent arrival on the land and to tread gently.
Much of what I do is about a personal relationship to home, but lately, I’ve become more interested in creatively exploring new places. Last year I undertook a one month residency on King Island, a remote pocket of land floating between Tasmania and Victoria. I spent my time exploring the island, driving around, walking, drawing, painting and surfing. A big part of experiencing that place was engaging with the community, who are nothing short of legendary. Being there, immersed in a new place, helped me reflect on my own practice, what I make and why. It taught me knew ways of seeing - I had to really look at the environment when it was so unknown and unfamiliar. Surfing was a focus for me on the island too. Chasing waves took me to all sorts of special spots. In short, the residency married my two loves together perfectly. I’m about to undergo a one month residency in Finland, and I’m trusting that will be another time for learning and growth. I’ve found exploring new places as an artist helps to engage more deeply with where you are. Being a surfer is a great way to see the world too, it often takes you off the beaten track. I’m lucky to have both in my life, to connect me to place, both new and familiar.
I feel really lucky to be able to do what I do. I’m able to live off my artist wage, which is pretty much the dream. But I’m determined to not get too comfortable with the exposure and recognition I’ve been privileged to have. I don’t ever relax because I have money coming in from paintings. In fact, the success makes me want to work harder. As my career progresses, its critical for me to remain authentic and honest in what I do. I try to hold myself accountable, filtering every decision through a lens of integrity. I want to keep moving forward in my practice, allowing change, experimentation and play however that may happen. I want to share with my audience the very best work I can. It’s truely humbling when people respond to my paintings. I spend my days battling away in the studio often unsure if anything I’m making is good, so when people connect with it, it’s really touching.
For now I’m based out of nipaluna/Hobart on muwinina country and I work every day in my studio at an artist run initiative called Good Grief Studios. I miss Marrawah when I’m not there, but its nice being in a bigger place for my career - I can see lots of exhibitions, materials and freight are super accessibly, and I get to a part of a wonderful community of artists and makers. Plus, there’s fun waves around Hobart, and a great community of surfers with an ‘everyone knows everyone’ kinda vibe. I usually spend the summer in Marrawah and weeks on and off there through the rest of the year. When I’m there, I work out of a little shack on our family farm. It’s a small building with no power and its literally built on the rocks. On a high tide and a big winter swell, the water almost laps at the footings. The shack has been there since before my Grandparents bought the property, so the building itself is around 70 years old. When it’s not set up as my studio, it’s a place for family and friends stay. It’s a very special spot.
I’ve always planned to move back home more permanently in the future. I’d love to build a house there, have a veggie garden, buy a Hillux, drink Boags Draught, complain about blow ins and live the god damn country dream. After all, it is the place that has made me, it is where I belong, I can’t not settle there one day. For now, I’m going to see where painting and surfing takes me, work hard, commit to growth and count my bloody blessings.
