AFFINITY investigates how material expression through painting can be used to explore personal affect and relationality to the natural environment. This project contributes and sits alongside wider discussions of connection to the natural landscape and its relation to colonial extractive systems and value hierarchies. While existing within these wider discussions, the project at its core is deeply personal to my own value systems and way of being. I employed methodologies of walking and slowness that provided an avenue in which to explore themes of contemplation and appreciation of minute beauty, close observation and attuning to one’s own sensory perception. I engaged in an introspective painting practice that alchemised my relational experience of spending time in the environment into material reality to create work that was infused with resonance. The process allowed me to extend and maintain the resonance beyond being present in the environment and into the studio work. The visual imagery portrayed supported my research by communicating sensations of stillness, connection and appreciation. The explorations made during this project reveal the depth of my personal value systems and the importance in keeping in connection with my environment. This project joins an ecosystem of philosophical thought that contends with re-attuning to the natural environment and in turn connection to each other.
Emma Lynes is an emerging artist living and working in Naarm/Melbourne. She is due to complete her Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art Honours) in 2024. Emma works primarily in oils and gouache, her work focuses on exploring the expressive possibilities of the space between abstraction and representation. Seeking inspiration from the natural environment, Emma uses visual language to reveal and translate her internal landscape. With natural colour palettes, her work is informed by the sublime, romantic and aesthetic sensibilities.