A Cloud Never Dies
Video projection, charcoal and pastel on paper, 2024
Storm + Night & Bend in the Horizon
A Cloud Never Dies,
Painting, collage, projection
Jan Manton Gallery, Brisbane
21 January - 6 February, 2025
A Cloud Never Dies draws upon the teachings of Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, who proposes that a cloud does not disappear but transforms into rain, mist, or snow—an allegory for perpetual change. This notion of transformation resonates deeply within the work, which seeks to capture the transient and tempestuous beauty of the coastal sky while navigating personal grief and loss.
Rooted in the experiential and gestural, the series incorporates Plein-air painting, lusciously pigmented watercolours on paper, punctuated with collage, and video projection. Created during a period of profound personal transition, the work attempts to translate the fleeting life of clouds, sky, and the horizon in pigmented hues. The act of painting at dusk—when the light shifts rapidly—became a ritual, echoing the instability of memory and experience. The horizon line recurs throughout as both a stabilising and disrupting force and a point of transition between presence, absence, colour and plane.
Revisiting the atmospheric studies of J.M.W. Turner and the immersive colour fields of Mark Rothko during the creation of this work, the watercolours range from naturalistic depictions to abstract fields, to distortion, where pigment and water blur unpredictably. These evolving forms reflect both environmental flux and internal states of transformation.
Through the integration of video projection and collage, the work moves beyond the frame, creating immersive spaces that blur reality and illusion. A Cloud Never Dies meditates on impermanence, resilience, and environmental care, inviting consideration on cycles of change, loss, and renewal.
