Irish-born Ben Crawford says that his work is “often autobiographical, with stories and characters from my life informing and populating the paintings. I’m interested in the mythologisation of memory.” Now living in northern NSW, surreal elements in Ben’s work transform the traditional landscape into a somewhat mystical realm. Figures, architectural elements and landmarks imbue a sense of narrative, anchoring his work tentatively to reality.

With over 40 years experience and an extensive exhibition history in Melbourne and Sydney, Sally Stokes’ colourful energetic oil paintings are based on numerous drawings of a place.  Her works evoke memories of place which she says are “feelings not images”, feelings of “the calligraphic energy of the land, the strange balances, the ambiguity of perception, the whimsy of shapes and the surprise of colour relationships”.

Melbourne-based artist and Boom regular Louise Tate uses her painting practice to further explore the overlapping of narratives within physical space, drawing on her own many-layered experiences of both womanhood and the complex histories of national identity. This is driven by an enduring consideration of the place of painting in history. Her layered compositions evoke the exquisite remains of ancient frescoes. Louise completed her studies at RMIT in 2016. She has an extensive exhibiting history in Melbourne and Internationally. Louise is also the recipient of the prestigious Artist in Residence award at the NARS Foundation in New York in 2019.