Jessie Lumb, Sometimes you must make your own rainbows (blue-pink), detail, 2021-22. Image courtesy the artist.
Sometimes you must make your own rainbows (woven paper)
Jessie Lumb
11 April – 18 August 2022
Artist Statement:
Between 2018 and 2020 I lived in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, a challenging city that meant my typical ways of being in and creating work in public spaces was no longer an option. In my early days there I felt trapped by these circumstances – I was moved from one secure compound to another with a guard, without freedom to roam off track. I leant into these difficulties in the best way I knew how and began connecting with local artists and using colourful materials to brighten up my life. I eventually learnt how to flat weave with pandanus, a traditional technique used throughout the Pacific region to create mats to sit and sleep on. I adapted this skill to paper and began using it as a form of drawing to create abstract colourful works, filling my life with rainbows even when I couldn’t see any. Sometimes you must make your own rainbows (woven paper) is a larger version of one of these early experiments.
Rainbows sit at the centre of my practice as an exploration of joy as healing. Much like seeing one in real life, this work will create a bright and joyful surprise for patients, staff and visitors as they spend time in the SpARC waiting room at Modbury Hospital.
-Jessie Lumb, 2022
Jessie Lumb, ‘Sometimes you must make your own rainbows (blue-pink)’, detail, 2021-22. Image courtesy the artist.
