‘Uncanny Archives’ Lisa Carrett’s debut exhibition at Camperdown

Mia Castagnone spoke with the young Australian artist about her debut art exhibit.

In a gallery only a short journey from Camperdown campus is the work of young Australian contemporary artist, Lisa Carrett. ‘Uncanny Archives’ is Carrett’s debut solo exhibition that explores the transient sentiments of home within the broader Australian landscape. Her work investigates how the home is inextricably tied to the past and present, as memory informs individual perceptions of place.

Featuring 12 paintings and 2 ceramics, her exhibition illustrates her own childhood experiences, collective stories and family albums. Her family moved from country NSW to Sydney when she was eight and each work stems from a sense of nostalgia that draws upon memories from her past and present.

Pictured in her studio at Square Space. Source: Lisa Carrett, Sarah Finnegan Photography

“I moved around as a kid and going through different environments I wanted to explore this in the show as well as the idea of the transient nature of home and feelings of being displaced,” Carrett explains.

Her landscapes use ambiguous, fluid shapes, forms and colours to highlight a sense of disconnect. Vast open landscapes evoke a sentiment of familiarity, yet leaving empty spaces to reflect on the way our memories are altered through the passage of time.

Carrett explains she wanted to use rich shades of blue as it represented clear Australian iconography, and while simultaneously inciting a sense of alienation or strangeness, she opens possibilities of different interpretations to the viewer.

“There’s lots of references to blues, greens and golds. When people look at these paintings, I really want them to instantly associate with the ideas of Australian iconography.”

Carrett adopts ambiguity in colours and features in her art. This fractured state of reality relates to the ideas that memory is a reflection of each individual’s experience and each person may remember the past differently, even if they have shared experiences.

“By messing with the colours, I wanted to change people’s perceptions. In the artwork, Benny, there’s a blue dog and obviously, dogs aren’t blue, but it was because of this idea that people are looking at the symbolism and having it be subverted through different colours. So suddenly something that is really familiar becomes strange and foreign. It comes back to the idea of your past memories of home can feel both really familiar but also feel really foreign.”

Lisa Carrett, Benny, acrylic on canvas. Source: Lisa Carrett, Sarah Finnegan Photography

 After completing an Honours Degree in Fine Arts at UNSW in 2018 Carrett began working in a private art space at Square One Studios. She adds that having her own space to practice and work has been essential to her success. She shares that as a young artist it isn’t easy at first to be able to practice your work as well as be financially independent. She says it has been a long journey to reach her debut stage, but she has wanted to be an artist ever since she was a child and has a strong ambition to continue to join both group and solo exhibitions.

You can see her exhibit at Artsite Galleries, located on Salisbury Road, a 6-minute bus ride from Eastern Avenue and is open from 11-5pm, Thurs-Sunday. The exhibition will be running till the end of May and more information can be found via this link.