So, my first blog post for my art website, this will be a bit of an introduction to my art career and what I have been doing the last couple of years. It has certainly been a journey, from studying in the haunted, sandstone structures of Callan Park at Sydney College of the Arts. Then several years later, coming back to Callan Park and finishing a Bachelor of Paramedicine at the University of Tasmania in Rozelle.
In 2014 I began a Bachelor of Visual Arts at SCA, I ended up majoring in printmaking and under the excellent guidance and support from the lecturers and educators I finished in 2017 with first class honours, also winning the 2017 Fremantle Arts Centre Print Award, the largest print prize in the country. My practice was driven by my passion for football and the organised supporters that occurs across the globe, as well as political street protest or activism and the ever present cross-over of sport and politics. The prize money allowed me to invest in my own screenprinting equipment that I still utilise to this day and give me the confidence to continue my art practice and continue with the subject matter that motivated my work.
Standing in front of the winning artwork for the 2017 FAC Print Award ‘Keeping the Bastards Honest’
Photo by Jessica Wyld
In 2018 I undertook a mentorship with Artereal Gallery who I can not thank enough for the opportunity to help educate me and support my practice, giving me the opportunity for my first solo exhibition at a commercial gallery. I also undertook my first official artist residency at Megalo Print Studio in Canberra, getting back into more traditional printmaking practices. The following years I became a member of Sydney Printmakers, exhibited in further group exhibitions and art fairs, did some casual work as a print studio tech at SCA and COFA, won the Lloyd Rees Memorial Youth Art Award and did probably the best art fair ever, ‘Can’t Do Tomorrow’ that ran for two weeks in Melbourne in early 2020… then covid.
A small section of the ‘Can’t Do Tomorrow’ exhibition space, with some of my work and the work of Cold Ghost next to me.
This is where things get a bit funny with my art making and life. Covid was an unusual time for all of us that brought different changes into each others lives, some for the better, some for the worse and some just, different. The same year we were introduced to covid, I also went back to my second home of Estonia to do 8 months of national service that would also encompass the Estonian winter. I ended up in the Air Defence Battalion and specialised as a paramedic, this is where there’s a bit of a pivot in my story. Part of our training was to spend some placement hours with the ambulance service in Tallinn and one shift in Tartu. On a cold winter’s morning, the streets covered in fresh, white snow, we were dispatched to a job just after the sun had come up, or as much as it can on an overcast day. The ambulance set off, snow kicked up from the tires and the moment the lights came on and the siren kicked in I knew this was something I wanted to pursue.
On shift with Tallinna Kiirabi, Tallinn, Estonia
After my period of service concluded, I was stuck in Estonia due to the strict incoming traveller numbers the Australian government had introduced, even if you were a citizen. A bit of a set back but it gave me the opportunity to explore Estonia and Europe a bit more as well as having the fortunate timing to undertake a residency at TYPA Print and Paper Museum in Tartu, Estonia over 5 month. This also presented a challenge to produce large-scale work that I could send back to exhibit for a solo exhibition at Gallery Lane Cove, fortunately, where there is a will there is a way and half way across the globe I made a body of work that was successfully installed and exhibited in my absence.
Arriving back home to the Australian heat, coming into 2022, I got back into work and my art, plenty of inspiration to work with and there was always something politically occurring across the globe. A new studio space meant I now had the room to make large-scale work more comfortably and create work at the scale I want to, however time was always an issue, not only for producing new work but maintaining the admin, social media and website side of things. With my experience in the Estonian Defence Forces still fresh in my mind, I would only compound this by starting a new degree, a Bachelor of Paramedicine in 2023.
‘Eight Forgotten Months’ installed at Gallery Lane Cove, 2021
I guess this was the solidifying of a path that began in 2020, to become a paramedic. It was a fast-track degree, 3 years of study, crammed into 2 with minimal holidays. Ideal to get the degree done in a short amount of time but incredibly tiring. While I was still making new art and coming up with new ideas, my ability to complete new work was definitely hindered in this time. Although I had developed some knowledge and skills in Estonia, this was certainly another beast but after 2 years, placement in Port Macquarie, London and Sydney I had made it through the other side and formally graduated in May 2025.
Only two weeks later I was off on a flight to Europe, a week to unwind and then was on a train crossing the Polish/Ukrainian border, 20 hours to the city of Dnipro to work with Prevail Together, an NGO that was conducting medevacs of wounded soldiers to the major hospitals in the city. I won’t get into detail about my time in Ukraine, there would be too much to cover for this initial blog post and it will eventually have it’s own or two. As will many other things that I have mentioned here, be covered at a later date in better detail. Suffice to say, it was an experience that I hold dear, the opportunity to make a tangible impact in Ukraine, see and experiencing things that fortunately many in other countries will never have to and working with some amazing people and making new friends. It was a bit of a trial by fire for a newly registered paramedic, the experience providing me some incredible insight and perspective in my life and plenty of motivation for new art.
In Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, transporting a patient to Dnipro for comprehensive care.
After almost 6 months in Europe, 5 months in Ukraine, I came back home to Australia to begin full-time work as a paramedic. So what does this actually mean for the future? I’m currently working in a field that I am very passionate about and is incredibly rewarding. This is also a great balance to my art practice, not only providing potential inspiration for new work but also contributes to a grounding for myself in the world. I have a long list of artworks that are half-finished, just started or still just a concept that I am looking forward to work through too. Fortunately my new work schedule affords me some significant time to finally knock out these artworks that have sat in limbo for years. I have time locked in to get some regular days in the studio, creating new screenprints in Photoshop and of course, doing the all important admin and social media tasks as demonstrated by this first blog post. The website will be further updated over the coming days. I’m looking forward to a big 2026 ahead for the art practice.
I want to thank those of you who took the time to read this, I’m aiming to make this a twice a month update, one post will cover my art (an artwork or exhibition more specifically) and the other will look at some politics that is occurring either in Australia or abroad that relates to my practice. If you do have any feedback about the blog or are particularly interested for me to delve deeper into something related to my art or politics please let me know and I can see what I can do for the next one!
Keeping my fingers crossed for a productive 2026 pending a certain president kicking off WW3.