Wayne Smith

Local Contemporary Art Prize 2026 – Finalist

Image courtesy of the artist. 

Wayne Smith | In memory of forgotten landscapes | 2026 | acrylic on canvas | 120 x 150cm

How many of us remember the landscapes of our childhood, days that were not governed by time, apart from the natural rhythms and cycles of night and day.

These memories fade into our imagined past only to reoccur at unexpected moments when some trigger brings them back to life again, it may be the smell of rain on a dirt road or the sound of cicadas or the way the last piercing golden light of the sun breaks through the onset of evening shadows.

It is these moments that are the most precious, they are not defined by the built environment but rather a deep connection to a time and place now passing and transforming the natural untamed places.

This inevitable transformation then becomes the province of memory and imagination passed down through stories, fading images and remembrances of generations now passing into the fog of time as we lose sight of what once defined the boundaries of experience and knowing.