Winged Realm

Winged Realm urges that we may free ourselves or find liberty and clarity by losing ourselves in art, literature and nature. The series provides a vessel for reflection and engagement, with the forces of nature, rather than against them.

The title of this series — Winged Realm — pays homage to the avant-garde experimental poet Christopher Barnett.

 Haw’s Flight

Sea sings, wings realm

Latitudes long lost

These words create an imaginary playground where characters Jo has created act out continuously. The simple shapes and colours unearth a sense of joyful freedom in a timeless place.

Winged Realm no 31, 2021, 78 x 55.5 cm, Monoprint on chine colle on Hahnemuhle paper (Provenance Geelong Gallery Collection)

Install Sea Sings Luman and Winged Realm 2023 City of Albany Art Gallery WA. Photo Bo Wong

Sea Sings, Lumen and Wings Realm brings together work by Australian artists Jo Darvall, Martin King, and Clare Humphries, who explore connectedness to land, sky and species. Each artist’s work arises through practices of wondering, observing and passing through—sometimes walking around urban parks, sometimes strolling in bushland, at other times leafing through books and archives, or watching the rising moon. They seek to become more attentive to the presences around them, and to honour the species and ecosystems that are under constant threat in the colonial anthropocene. The exhibition includes Martin King’s melancholic odes to endangered birds who find refuge in urban parks, and his delicate drawn animations that re-enchant us with the wonder of flight. Jo Darvall’s joyful prints meditate on the cycle of the lotus flower, which returns to murky water each evening, only to opens its blooms again at the break of day, reborn. Clare Humphries subtle lunar works explore a similar cycle of hope, as she documents her encounters with the ever-shifting moment of moonrise over time. As we face the consequences of ecological change, this exhibition seeks to prompt attentiveness to, and care for, the cycles, rhythms and knowledge of the natural world.

Sea Sings, Lumen and Wings Realm was exhibited at Minang/Menang Albany Town Hall Gallery and at the Print Council of Victoria Gallery in Naarm. greater Freemantle/Walyalup.

Yann Toussaint a poet responding to the artworks from this exhibition performing a short text at the opening.

Winged Realm No 9, 2020
78 x 106.5cm Monotype and chine colle on Hahnemuhle paper (sold)

Winged Realm No 29, 2020
78 x 53.5 cm Monotype and chine colle on Hahnemuhle paper (Available contact Fox Galleries Naarm)

Winged Realm No 4 2019

97 cm x 65 cm indian paper (status: available contact the artist)

Winged Realm No 35, 2021

78 x 56 cm Monoprint and chine-colle on Hahnemuhle paper (status available contact Linton and Kay Galleries Whadjuk Noongar Country/Perth)

Winged Realm No 43, 2021

45 x 38.5 cm monotype chine colle on Hahnemule paper (Private Collection)

Sea Sings Black Sands And Winged Realm, Install 2019, Goolugatup Heathcote, Western Australia

Winged Realm install Geraldton Regional Art Gallery, Western Australia. Photo: Will Upchurch