Diurnal Dreaming- Contemporary Wildlife

Bats have always been demonised in popular culture. Vilified as ""carriers of disease"", ""destroyers of crops"". But in truth, these beautiful creatures are an important keystone species, pollinators to many tropical and desert environments and without them, ecosystems could collapse.

When creating this work I wondered about the nocturnal lives of bats and if they were daytime (diurnal) animals if their image would be different. With wings outstretched in an inky black sky my flying fox dreams of a sunny day.

How would I describe my art?
Inspired by my love of animals, I create detailed, visual narratives that explore the relationships between animals and their habitats. My style is a combination of colourful, naturalist work with quirky compositions that pair species that don’t coexist or share habitats.

How do I decide what to paint?
I spend quite a bit of time researching the status and history of each of the animals in my works and imagine what it would be like if they had a conversation with each over.

What does my work mean?
Each artwork has an environmental message behind it. I am aware that we are currently in the 6th great extinction event with Australia having one of the highest rates of extinction globally. My goal is to inspire people to learn more about our vulnerable animals and do more to protect them.

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Inspired by her love of animals, artist Ronelle Reid uses ink, oils and watercolours to create detailed, visual narratives that explore the relationships between animals and their habitats.
Her style is a combination of colourful, naturalist work with quirky compositions that pair species who don’t coexist or share habitats. She invites viewers to ask why the rules of land, air and sea no longer apply, and wonder why fish happily swim through the antlers of a bongo antelope and butterflies flutter around a moray eel.
As a dedicated artist, Ronelle spent countless hours studying animals in museums, using the taxidermic displays to understand and convey their forms. It wasn’t until she started work with RSPCA that her experience with animal welfare gave her a new perspective.
Now, fuelled by this understanding, she combines her formal education in painting, screen and printmaking to plan each composition, purposefully breaking the rules of taxonomic categorisation. In doing so, her work draws attention to the interconnectedness between species and invites viewers to see how they are being forced to adapt in rapidly changing ecosystems, or risk extinction.
These pairings also invite people to engage in the character and personality of the individual animals, challenging them to see them as more than just objects to be studied and classified.
Aware that much of Australia’s rich biodiversity is found exclusively on this continent, and that we have one of the highest rates of extinction globally, Ronelle’s next series will inspire people to learn more about our vulnerable native animals and do more to protect them.
Her quirky, naturalist portrayals preserve and highlight the beauty and diversity of animals right in our backyards of Logan, asking us to imagine if the kookaburra, the koala, or wallaby were lost to us forever.