A Good Price

This artwork was inspired by a floating billboard I saw attached to a boat, designed to market to beachgoers. It seemed to me like a perfect way to ruin the beach experience for everyone. The ocean, the place we think of as a getaway from the world, is also used as a prop to sell us holidays and incentivise work. It's the medium for transporting goods around the world. I travelled to Greece and was shocked that people smoke on the beach there, and the imported sand beaches of Barcelona were littered with cigarettes and other trash. In Queensland we attempt to keep our beaches pristine. But we also allow mining companies to drill very close to the Barrier Reef, and it is being destroyed. The irony of the tourism industry is that in order to get to a place, and enjoy the natural wonders of the world, you also contribute to the pollution and degradation of the environment. So I love the juxtaposition of slapping a petrol station on the beach. It simultaneously ruins the view, while also making it accessible and familiar to us. It's not entirely ridiculous that one day there might be a petrol station on every beach.

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Phoebe Purtill is a musician, visual artist and model from Moreton Bay, north of Brisbane, Australia. Her visual art is influenced by the saturated colours of the landscape around her, and she is interested in exploring themes of how the natural world intersects with human invention, what humans place value on, and how we erode nature in all our attempts to enjoy it.

She won her first art prize age 11 at the Pine Rivers Show, an the Children's Painting category Champion. She was subsequently awarded the Ruth Luxhoj Award for Artistic Achievement. In 2008 she won second prize for Painting at the Pine Rivers Show. She also won First Prize in Abstract Art, Second Prize in Landscapes and Third Prize in Painting at the 2010 Redcliffe Anglican Art Awards. In 2010 she was awarded Dux of Art for her year level. Most recently her painting "Puma" won the Judges' Prize at Limelight Showcase Deception Bay.

She is also a musician and through her self- produced, released and distributed indie pop albums, explores themes of suburban angst and self image. She has three albums on Spotify, 2017's "Best Wife", 2020's "Forever + Never" and 2022's "Hot. Good. Enough." She has performed at the Live N Local festival, at the Junk Bar, the Pine Rivers Show, Mt Gravatt Markets, the Milk Factory, at Superordinary as part of CAA's Plug In Songwriting Mentorship, and at Limelight Showcase. Most recently she performed as the climactic live act as part of Celestial Events Australia's Starfall Ball held at Customs House.

Phoebe graduated from a Bachelor of Film and Screen Media at Griffith University in 2016, and is currently undertaking a Bachelor of Fine Arts Music through QUT.