A.K Bellinger Gallery, Inverell NSW
April 21 – May 4 2022
Into blue, 2022, oil on board, 122 x 90 
Holding place, 2021, oil on board, 90 x 122cm 
How much honey can the heart stand, 2022, oil on board, 122 x 90cm 
Moonward my soul, 2021, oil on board, 81.5 x 61cm 
An opening down, 2022, oil on board, 81.5 x 61cm 
Bright pocket, 2022, oil on board, 81.5 x 61cm 
The grace of the world, 2021, oil on board, 122 x 90cm 
The endless, 2022, oil on board, 34 x 47.5cm 
Moon’s favour, 2022, oil on board, 61 x 81.5cm 
Above me beyond, 2022, oil on board, 122 x 90cm 
Near that porous line, 2021, oil on board, 81.5 x 61cm 
Attending, 2022, oil on board, 34 x 47.5cm
This body of work came out of an exchange, a mutual relationship of give and take between myself and my garden. Gardens are often associated with tameness and control, but the one I look after runs ahead of my plans, with an agency that acts on me and catches me in its cycles.
The subjects in my paintings come with personal stories. I painted a particular nasturtium plant, which slowly grew over winter until by spring it was taller than me, a webbed microcosm of dark exuberance. When I sat before it, it rose above me like a mountain. I painted the moon, pulling me into the vortex of its gaze. I painted carrot flowers, an unexpected delight, white with a heady scent. I painted grassy tangles, small kingdoms under every step. Looking up and down and around, I see archways and passages, bowers and portals.
Certain spots become altars, in-between places of giving and receiving.
I think about the relationship between attending and attention and tending. The garden is a place that I tend to, and am tended by in turn. I witness the garden’s movement, stillness, death, and rebirth. A place of holding that exists beyond my passing presence, drawing me in.
– Sarah Fordyce, 2022
SARAH FORDYCE 