Indonesia: Islands of Eden Series (1995)
Exhibited at Gallery Lambton, March 24 - April 15, 1995click thumbnails below to view larger image
Press
Artist's Statement
Indonesia, the world's largest Archipelago, is strung like a necklace between the Asian mainland and Australia. The fifth most populated country in the world, it is comprised of over 13,000 islands, approximately half of which are inhabited.
The country assaults the senses in every imaginable way, and for those of us raised in the comparatively sterile environment of North America, the cultural and environmental transition is not always easy. Nevertheless, my husband and I feel very fortunate to have seen the country as few visitors do - residing in an Indonesian home with a Canadian friend living there.
Shunning the larger cities and hotels, ours was a more personal tour of a tropical country of exceptional beauty and fascinating culture, shimmering with colour, motion and grandeur. Our travels took us through the lush foliage, mountain landscapes and emerald green terraced ricefields of Java and Bali to the incredible images iin the troical rainforests of Kalimantan.
I have endeavoured, in this body of work, to convey to you, not only the visual, but my feelings for the visual. It has required, on my part, a more intense palette and a deeper searching for ways to express the impressions invoked by these "Islands of Eden".