journey Series
2013: journey and the space within, The Hanging Space Art Gallery, Woonona, NSW (solo)

Artist Statement for journey and the space within:
This exhibition continues my journey series of paintings (journey and the space between: 1 & 2) which were exhibited during the last two years following a trip around Australia during 2009 with my husband Oliver. The journey series explores my interest in relationships of objects of nature with each other and with the environment around them. This includes the effects of light, shadow and space around the objects: the matrix, often unseen, or noticed subliminally, in which everything exists.

On another level, I am aware of a vitality and ‘aliveness’ which exists in objects and which surrounds them. This ‘life force’, I believe imbues, sustains and connects all things with each other. It connects me with all things. Therefore the ‘space between’ is also a metaphor for this essence.

In journey and the space within I attempt to describe, with limited and intuitive understanding, my experiences of connectedness and of personal journey. This has resulted in images which are evocative and somewhat dreamlike. 

I dedicate this exhibition to my children Elvin and Rohana, because it was they, when they were very young who helped me to realise that an open heart has a huge capacity for awareness. My son said at the tender age of four: “We can fit more inside us than outside us”. Here in this exhibition I have attempted to depict something of the mysterious life forms and landscapes of my ‘space within’. 

Alena Kennedy
April, 2013