Exhibitions Karlee Rawkins True Blue 11th February 2025 - 1st March 2025

Karlee Rawkins’ forthcoming exhibition, True Blue, uses depictions of Australian fauna to explore themes of strength and resilience while also questioning our cultural values and relationship to nature.

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Through layers of underpainting and diverse mark-making, Rawkins creates a visual ambiguity between animal and landscape. This confluence highlights the complex issues of authenticity and contradiction that shape our relationship with the natural world.

“There is a unique and rugged quality to Australia’s wildlife and landscapes. I was drawn to the potential to convey a sense of survival. These animals—and ourselves—are both vulnerable and resilient.”

“On a recent trip to K’Gari (Fraser Island), I had the privilege of seeing dingoes up close, and I’ve since completely fallen in love with them. There’s so much misunderstanding around dingoes. The landscape they inhabit there is extraordinary—they’re truly wild, yet our presence has led to complications. The dingo is a native species with cultural significance to First Peoples. As an apex species, genetically distinct from domestic dogs, the dingo plays a critical role in a healthy ecosystem. The idea that ‘wild dogs’ are a problem that need to be controlled is deeply harmful.”

These new works continue Rawkins’ exploration of transformation and change and seek to represent and document these processes through the act of painting.

KARLEE RAWKINS PROFILE
DOWNLOAD BIO / CV (PDF)

Dingo in the Dunes 2024
acrylic and charcoal on canvas
137cm x 210cm