Love lost and found - exploring the past and the present by Wendy Donald
Recent
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This monoprint series, created in 2024, marks a deeply personal chapter in Wendy Donald's artistic journey. The works respond to and reflect upon the profound loss of her only child in 2023, tracing a quiet, emotional movement from the immediacy of grief toward the early contours of acceptance. The series follows a previous body of work completed in 2023, which explored a vision Donald experienced at her son's deathbed.
Central to this new series are recurring symbolic elements: mirrors, representing the liminal space between life and death and the communication that might exist between the two; doorways, signifying transition from one world to the next; and windows, offering fleeting glimpses into the past or present. The figurative style enhances the sense of mystery that these symbols evoke. Each image is interconnected, often exploring variations of a core visual theme.
True to the nature of monoprinting, every piece is one of a kind. Donald works by inking a glass or perspex plate, then laying a sheet of paper over the surface. She draws on the reverse side of the paper, transferring the ink in a way that renders a unique and reversed image. Finally, she applies soft pastel to introduce subtle, expressive color. The result is a series of intimate, contemplative images that embody both personal grief and universal themes of loss, memory, and transformation.
This exhibition is presented as part of the 2025 City of Yarra Exhibition Program at Carlton Library, Fitzroy Library and Bargoonga Nganjin - North Fitzroy Library.