Postcard from Lamu

Painted while Australia's borders were still closed, this work is a memory of travel; a song of celebration of the past, and grief over our isolation and the loss of opportunities to see the world from new perspectives. It is an elegy for the era of mass tourism, when economic gains for communities had to be weighed against the cultural and environmental damage caused. It expresses hope that when travel returns, it will occur in a more mindful and sustainable way.

The reference image for the painting was a black and white photograph that I took in 1992 of a young fisherman on his dhow in Lamu, an island in northern Kenya. As I painted I wondered about the young man's life, and where he might be now. It reminded me that for many people, the ability to travel freely will always be an impossible dream. In this painting I have incorporated materials including soil as an acknowledgement of the importance of land and Kenya's colonial past.

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I grew up in Leicester in the UK's industrial Midlands, and my restlessness and curiosity took me to London and Budapest before I finally found my place in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia. I have always loved making art and expressing myself creatively through images and words. After a youth mis-spent working as a Chartered Accountant, I finally earned my freedom and was able to pursue a creative life. At first my focus was on drawing and photography, but in 2018 I completed a course in Painting Techniques at the Victorian College of the Arts, and fell in love with the possibilities of paint. The following year I began painting professionally under the name Dorian.

My father was a Hungarian refugee and his story, together with my own migration journey, inspire me to create paintings that evoke echoes of place, memory and time. My emotionally expressive works layer photographs, newspaper and other materials beneath the paint. I often include dirt or sand in my paintings to express ideas of home, and to reflect on what it means to be Australian.

Visits to my studio on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung country are welcome, by arrangement.