Tussock Dawn – 101x101cm

Tussock Dawn is an exploration of the delicate, sometimes uneasy relationship between water and land — resilience alongside fragility, where life exists in the harsh, often arid landscapes where water is sparse. The piece captures the early light of dawn, when the world is still, and the moisture in the air hangs heavy, touching the land with the faintest trace of water, creating a fleeting, ephemeral connection between the two elements. In this work, the abstract lens of the warm foreground symbolises a tussocked landscape where the warmth of tussock serves as both metaphor and contrast to water. Tussocks are survivors—these plants cling to the land, rooted in place, enduring droughts, winds, and the slow passage of time. Their clustered, tufted forms suggest resilience, but also isolation and stillness. Water, in contrast, is fluid, transient, and constantly moving—a force of both creation and destruction. Through the quiet dawn light, I invite the viewer to consider the psychological tension between these two forces—one rooted in place, and the other ever-changing. Water, for all its promise of life, represents the unknown: the fear of change, the unpredictability of its arrival and departure. Tussocks, meanwhile, embody the quiet resistance to change, holding fast to the land despite the challenges of scarcity. Together, they suggest a fragile harmony, a delicate balance between stability and flux, between the grounded and the ephemeral. Tussock Dawn speaks to this delicate psychology—the tension between endurance and fragility, between the steadfastness of nature and the transitory nature of water