By Alichia van Rhijn
2023
glazed earthenware
25x24x18cm
ARTIST STATEMENT
"‘Water Lily (A Parting)’ explores the notions of personal survival during traumatic times. There is a direct correlation between the sense of madness and mayhem of recent personal experiences, as well as the shared experience of current global events.
Nothing seems to be making any sense, where feelings of disbelief, overwhelm and confusion are underpinned by a sense of madness and chaos.
Yet even during these trying times, there is a need to forge forward, to rise from the muddy depths and to continue on new pathways. Tiny flecks of yellow adorn the top of the water lily, seeking to represent fleeting moments of hope amongst the darkness of despair…like tiny guiding lights. Often greatness comes from perseverance and overcoming hardship.
Collectively the form investigates phenomenological notions, alluding to personal and shared experience, memory, nostalgia and trauma."
BIO
van Rhijn’s installations catalogue her experience of displacement through material investigation, where memory and experience of place are key elements. ‘Making as thinking ’paired with an experimental approach to process and technology underpins the creation of objects that float between the real and a child-like whimsical world that elicits an urge to interact and play.
Alichia van Rhijn is a South African born Australian artist. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Art (Ceramics) from The National Art School and has a passion for creating sculptural and installation-based objects and forms that examine memory, trace, trauma, experience and loss.
Solo shows include; ‘A Sense Of Being’, Gallerysmith (2019); ‘The Middle Distance’, Boom Gallery (2019); ‘My Mother Told Me (Never Wear Pink And Red Together)’, Stockroom Kyneton (2020); ‘Smoke Signals’, Stockroom Kyneton (2021); ‘Lemon Light ’at Sabbia Gallery (2022); ‘Pink Moon’ at Stockroom Kyneton (2023); and most recently ‘Sweet Spot’ at Curatorial+Co (2023).