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Painter Meg Walters grew up in Bermuda, trained in London, and now lives in Northern NSW. And each location has informed a significant part of her artistic practice.
‘Growing up in several countries imbues you with multiple perspectives from a young age,’ she says. ‘You’re presented with not just one version of reality, but numerous, which leads to such a complex but rich understanding of life. Each place I’ve lived has offered me another identity, another heritage, another community and another group of family and friends.’
Formal study has also formed a large part of Meg’s artistic style. Originally graduating from Chelsea College of Art in London, she is now in her third year of study at the Byron School of Art in Byron Bay. This varied training, and time spent living in different places, gives her a unique artistic perspective, and her practice is forever oscillating between themes of longing and displacement.
‘Some of my earliest memories revolve around nature and art and finding a way to marry the two,’ the artist explains of her fascination with place, and the attachment we have to belonging somewhere static. ‘I find that I’m always trying to get back to that ‘place’ and abandon all the years of social conditioning getting in the way. Most people strive forwards, but I do a lot of looking back, as a reference point, as an inspiration, as a driver for cathartic release.’
This blur between nature and creativity is at the nexus of Meg’s work. The wild elements represented in her seeping, dreamy landscapes bleed into each other: waterways, tree trunks, long grasses and skies. A repeated aquatic motif is played out in her composition, where she opts for organic, undulating lines, soft edges and warm, muted colours.
Though nature is the obvious catalyst for Meg’s painterly ruminations, her creative output is also heavily inspired by music. ‘I’ll even go so far as to curate entire playlists to elicit a specific mood when I’m in the studio,’ she says. ‘I find I paint differently depending on what I’m listening to, so that curation process is a large part of my creative play.’
Yesterday’s Supernova will be exhibited at Michael Reid from 5th-14th November. You can see more here.
