Kim Anderson

Sunshine Coast National Art Prize 2024 - Finalist

_{[Image courtesy of the artist and Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne]}

Artist Statement

Through drawing I explore our complex relationship with the natural world, interweaving themes of interdependency, accountability, vulnerability and resilience.  

Of all the wild creatures we interact with, birds are surely the most ubiquitous. Anthropomorphising the multitude of species in my own garden, I imagine social interactions, hierarchies, alliances and conflicts amongst them. I hear conversations and arguments – perhaps laughter at our human follies – in cadences that almost mimic our human language.   

I had the somewhat absurd thought – what if I taped branches to myself, posed as a tree, and waited, still, for them to come? Would they hop amongst my branches? Would I finally understand their language? What secrets, revelations and warnings would I hear?  

No matter how much we try to believe ourselves separate from – or somehow superior to – nature, we cannot ignore the inherent wisdom, strength and ungovernability of the natural world as salvation for our collective future.