“My recent work explores ideas of what ‘space’ means within our contemporary context. We live so much of our lives in an online world, a realm that is indefinite, impermanent and intangible. As our identities become increasingly defined by our virtual footprint and digital presence, does this shift our perception of how we define what a space is, how do we relate, how do we fit? And how much of this new world is created autonomously?

Aesthetically, I have always been drawn to texture and pattern as a way to add depth and contrast to a composition. The materials I collect are mostly sourced from second hand stores and markets – I love that old materials bring their own narrative to my work. I’m particularly interested in collecting vintage scientific text books and specimen sheets and rearranging them into fictitious representations of facts.

These new works are imagined, shifting worlds, where negative space becomes equally important as the elements themselves. Each a landscape of potential, cut, paused, pasted and ready to move at any moment. Built from familiar materials and tangible objects, drawing on our innate affinity with nostalgia, history and the natural world, yet are representations of a new virtual reality.
Centred around conceptual landscapes, I consider my collages experiments in constructs of space and time – obscure unknown locations never representing one specific geography or place. Collaged materials promise a history and context, however together spaces and species are presented without origin, without destination. They are rearranged in my work to form familiar yet false representations of memory, myth and fantastical truth.”

Meredith Earls is an Artist and Designer based in Melbourne.