Last of the light 3

My latest exhibition, Return, is a culmination of my residency at Fowlers Gap, in Wilyakali country, part of the arid zone of the NSW desert. The transparent layers of glaze echo the jewel like nature of the rocks, reflections and light of the land. Building up layers of pigment and continuing to return to the original patterns and forms that lay beneath, these works connect to the immersive and cyclical nature of time in the desert.

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The night is bright in Wilyakali country.

There is ice in the sky.
22 degrees from the moon,
There is a halo above my head.
The rain will come tomorrow.
Alone with a thousand eyes.

Bound by the Barrier Range,
The bird watcher listens where the river stays.
The blue night falls,
A White Winged Fairy Wren.

North of the Babbler¡¯s nest,
The shadows are still long.
A Restless Flycatcher waits,
The sound makes it colder.

Wildflowers wake where women walk,
While the White-Backed Swallow sleeps.
6 drops of rain, a Winter Spring.
A river of rock and sand.

The rivers are still crossing the ash arteries,
Limbs reach into the night.
The sky lights the path forward,
But there is still a way to go.

I would like to acknowledge the Wilyama People of Wilyakali Country, the true people from the land, belonging to Country, from the hills to the plains. The people of the Barrier Range, the people of the plains.

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Sophie Bray’s artworks evince feelings of immersion and the connectedness one senses by the sea. Her painting, drawing and analogue photography practice reflects upon the beauty and fragility of the natural environment. She enjoys exploring tensions in her work which pull between: abstraction and representation, gestural marks and smooth blended surfaces, monochromatic palettes and vibrant coloured grounds.

Born in Sydney (1986) Bray has lived and worked in Los Angeles as well as in Sydney. She completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts (HONS1) and Masters of Fine Arts at the University of New South Wales and was a recipient of the University of New South Wales Honours Scholarship, The Dean’s Award for Academic Excellence, The Australian Postgraduate Award (2008-2010), The Toyota Emerging Artist Encouragement Award and the William Fletcher Foundation Scholarship for drawing. Since 2004, she has held 6 solo exhibitions and has been included in 24 group exhibitions. Her work has been acquired by the Morton Bay Art Collection and the Moran Art Foundation. Bray’s work was published in a book of international contemporary artists, Super Modified: The Behance Book of Creative Work. She exhibited in Paris as part of the Paris Drawing festival at Galarie ALB, and has been a finalist in the Ravenswood Australian Art Prize, The 20000 Lethbridge Small Scale Art Award, The JADA, The Sunshine Coast Art Prize, The Hazelhurst Paper Awards, The Waverley Art Prize and The National Emerging Art Prize.