Story of the Piece: A Familiar Current

Some creatures don't fight the current. They trust it.

Turtles have been part of my life for as long as I can remember. Watching them haul themselves up the beach at Bundaberg to lay their eggs — one of the most ancient and unhurried acts in nature. A small turtle playing in the waves at Wangetti Beach, just after Pete and I first met — one of those moments you don't plan and never forget. Turtles in Bali, at Green Island, in the water at every significant place I have ever been. They have been quiet witnesses to my life, moving through it the way they move through water — steadily, without urgency, completely at home.

This piece grew from that affinity. Five sea turtles move across sculpted reef and reclaimed driftwood, each one uniquely painted, each finding its own path through the same water. The timber beneath them carries the deep iridescence of the ocean floor, shifting between blue, purple and teal as the light moves. Shell, coral and stone ground the piece in the coastal world they come from.

A Familiar Current is named for exactly that - the feeling of moving through something you have always known.

The turtles know it and after all these years, so do I.

Materials: Reclaimed driftwood, hand-painted turtles, shells, resin base, chameleon paint.

Dimensions: 49 cm x 21 cm

Price: $950