Moments in Time

Moving Image II, 2013, Beeswax and oil on linen

Helen Martin 

Moments in time

An exhibition of new paintings

Saturday 6 to Monday 8 April, 2013

St George’s Old School Hall, on the corner of Hobson and Learmonth Sts, Queenscliff

open11.00am-5.00pm daily.

In this series of paintings I explore travelling through Australian landscapes.  These particular works record the tranquillity of a moment as I passed quickly through the Myall Lakes in New South Wales on a misty mid-winter morning: A fleeting instant, but one that endures in memory - emotionally and physically- as a memento of that time.

Travelling across the land has been a constant in my life from a young age growing up in the desert. As kids we would often head out into the bush just as something to do - to break the monotony of life in town.  ‘Let’s go for a drive!’ was the call. And then there were the long annual drives to the city on the coast, later done by air in small planes.  The landscape was ever present, flashing by sometimes as blur and at other times as if in slow motion, but always moving on. 

My vista was often from the side window rather than the windscreen.  This sideways view is always fleeting.  The scene was only there for a second or two. Colours and features are always changing: blending one into the other, morphing from mulga to Mallee scrub, to grazing land and crop fields.

So when setting out last year to travel to Treachery near Seal Rocks in New South Wales, I decided to document our travels from the perspective of the passenger side window.  This series of Moments in time relates a sequence of shots I took with the camera in my little Sony Ericsson mobile phone over 5 minutes, from 1.28 to 1.33pm on 1 June 2012.

 

Open Spaces, 2013, beeswax and oil on linen

Stillness, 2013, beeswax and oil on linen

Dancing Trees, 2013, beeswax and oil on linen