2013, Paraiso Ngayon, mixed media installation, MADA Now.

Paraiso Ngayon explores the poetic potential of semantics and visual signifiers to evoke, and attempt to understand, a proverbial paradise. I am interested in the intrinsic shifts activated by action and repetition, between the idealised and the banal; foreign and local landscapes; personal and collective identity; conceit and truth.

Three phrases - dried palm, mood beige, and silver lining, collectively inform this project. Each of these being the name of a colour used to paint the exterior facades of a luxury high-rise estate in Melbourne. I am interested in the idea that these words can operate as discursive and evocative phrases; that the simple gesture of naming irrevocably adheres meaning. Each phrase carrying the weight of other associations, layered within the materials of object, video, and gesture.