Hannah Barker

This body of work is based on my own introspection of childhood and the transparency of memory. Spending my formative years in Australia and moving to the UK at 8 years old; meant that I grew up in a world I no longer have any physical connection to. Some memories – however faded – still linger.
Through painting and printing I have gone back and explored the places of my childhood looking at family photos, memorabilia and listening to stories relayed to me by my parents. My work focused on depicting ‘Wilson’s Prom’ (Wilsons Promontory National Park) where, as a family, we spent most of our summer holidays camping and jumping off Whale Rock into the deep orange waters of Tidal River. The Wilson’s prom that is etched in my memory has become synonymous with the representation of my youth, a far off carefree place that I can’t return to.

I stumbled upon the method of painting on stretched mesh by accidently spilling glue on some embroidery. The glue blocked out sections and left sections missing like deleted pixels in a picture file, or the slow degradation of a memory over time. Like our memories get mixed up in our day today lives, the wholes in the painting allow you to see through them; so if held up against a window or similar the painting changes as the world behind it alters the image you see.