Laith McGregor

Sunshine Coast National Art Prize 2024 - Finalist

_{[Image courtesy of the artist. Photo by Michelle Eabry.]}

Artist Statement

During an artist residency in New York in the summer of 2022, I bought a bundle of maps at a yard sale from an elderly gentlemen selling vintage charts. I was instantly intrigued by these printed archives, which were all beautiful aerial interpretations of foreign landscapes from far flung locations. The allure of the exotic and remote reminded me of my childhood fascination with the external and unfamiliar. I was always taken by the depiction of the world map; with each country dispersed across an expansive land mass, divided by oceans, seas and rivers. But on closer inspection, land was further divided, by borders, with lines drawn across landscapes to partition one culture from the next. These arbitrary boundaries seemed so menial and unnecessary. The more I considered this, the more I realised that the world seemed small, not as immense as I had originally been lead to believe as a child. The map took on a different engagement, a new set of rules; geopolitical, merciless and absurd. The lines that separated these beautiful connected lands had shifted in my mind’s eye. What was once a nostalgic, rousing prospect of the bountiful and free, had now become an inhumane game of chess, a game of division; with winners, losers, and more often that not, constant stalemates. I felt compelled to elucidate the illogical titles and heedless assertion of names over something that is fundamentally free for all. By erasing claims and labels, I began to create a drawing with negative space, highlighting the complexities of being human, while reflecting my own feelings of helplessness, isolation and a yearning for a simpler time. I sought to create drawing room, a space where all are equal, a new dichotomy, free from geographical exclusion and all welcome…