Suellen Symons - Another Time, This Place

Another time, this place depicts the journeys of two young women, one Aboriginal and one Anglo-Saxon. The series is set in an early colonised Australia circa 1860's and mainly takes place in historic stations or homesteads. The lush large scale images trace a narrative of each woman breaking free from the bonds that bind her to servitude. Their physical escape into the bush and "Nature" mirrors their spiritual and emotional release. As in her previous bodies of work, Symons constructs an elaborate mise en scene with central female characters giving focus to history. This work uses forms of symbolism (the bush, birds, the bride) employed by earlier Australian painters to look at issues like gender, identity and inequality in a dreamlike, surrealist way. The images are rich with metaphorical associations. For Symons the bush epitomises a site of ancient myths and living culture. She relishes the sounds, spaces and surprises it holds and reveals.