Artist's Statement:

In this new body of work, Alison Mackay takes us to the Australian shoreline – not as a place for recreation but as an archive of human detritus. Walking the beaches near her home in Jervis Bay, Mackay gathers what others have discarded: fragments of coloured plastic, twisted fishing lines and lures, rusting bottle tops and shards of broken glass - the residue of human consumption, forgotten, washed up, left behind. 

Back in her studio, arranging these found materials with the care usually reserved for traditional still life subjects, she has created paintings that are as alluring as they are unsettling. A small piece of broken plastic, unidentifiable as any particular object, is painted with as much care as the delicate petal on a flower, jagged glass fragments glisten with threatening beauty and crumpled wrappers speak of our consumer culture. 

“It's not just what we throw away, but what remains long after we’re gone. These paintings invite us to consider the legacy of pollution that we are leaving behind...”

- Alison Mackay

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You can read more about the artist here:

Works by Alison Mackay