Blended Geographies

This selection of works crosses geographical boundaries, past and present between Australia and France. In recent years Wendy Stokes has developed a constantly evolving body of work thoughtfully bridging geographies of special meaning to her. Her work draws directly from rural childhood, her coastal surrounds of 5 decades and her ongoing interest from research during a Cite des Arts residency in Paris. This research was a lived journey locating parallels in sites between the late Claude Monet and the artist, especially the Giverny garden and the coast of Étretat on the Normandy Coast. They presented strong parallels conjuring deep meaning connected to her childhood and life. Stokes thoughtfully manipulates such a register of experiences, where memories become fragments, glimpses fractured by time, where forms float, yet remaining undefined, keeping the readings open to the viewer to find their own reading of ‘sense of place’. Catherine Asquith 2021