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Laura CondrenLaura Condren is a Sydney based National Art School alumni whose practice spans ceramics, soft sculpture, painting and beyond. She explores both the physical and psychological experience of womanhood working with organic forms that mimic flesh and skin.
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Artists Statement
The Earthbleed series details the exploration of trauma on the female psyche and its relation to changing landscape. This fascination with infertility in the harsh Australian landscape and its colonial lack of understanding connects to my yearning for the innate and deeply spiritual healing mutually experienced by women amid these changing socio-political times.
This series was a direct response to personal unresolved psychological traumas, addiction and loss as well as inspired by my visit to the site of Mount Bell in the Dharug Nation amid this period of healing. The fragmentation of landscapes in the surface texture of the paintings relate to Mount Bell’s desolation due to the 2019 bushfires which seem long forgotten amid the rise of the COVID 19 pandemic and its broadcasting.
These works focus on a constant process of growth and decay as each layer is submerged in the next, leaving fragments of the previous stories. My work is heavily process based and intuitive as I let my environment and materials dominate the layering process. I feel overstimulated and oversensitive to the current environmental and political climate and use my painting as a tool to decompress and self soothe.
My process of emotional expulsion onto the canvas as opposed to a preconceived notion of how the piece may end aims to achieve a moment of therapeutic catharsis. The Earthbleed series aims to resemble abstractions of the Australian landscape as well as draw reference to abandoned rural sites and their association to the idea of barrenness.
This series was a direct response to personal unresolved psychological traumas, addiction and loss as well as inspired by my visit to the site of Mount Bell in the Dharug Nation amid this period of healing. The fragmentation of landscapes in the surface texture of the paintings relate to Mount Bell’s desolation due to the 2019 bushfires which seem long forgotten amid the rise of the COVID 19 pandemic and its broadcasting.
These works focus on a constant process of growth and decay as each layer is submerged in the next, leaving fragments of the previous stories. My work is heavily process based and intuitive as I let my environment and materials dominate the layering process. I feel overstimulated and oversensitive to the current environmental and political climate and use my painting as a tool to decompress and self soothe.
My process of emotional expulsion onto the canvas as opposed to a preconceived notion of how the piece may end aims to achieve a moment of therapeutic catharsis. The Earthbleed series aims to resemble abstractions of the Australian landscape as well as draw reference to abandoned rural sites and their association to the idea of barrenness.
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A Study in Grieving Laura Condren Mixed Media, linen and house paint on Canvas 61x46 Accompanying Poem
My womb took its last breath And by the warmth of the fire I bled my last life for you I watched as the naked woman danced A reckoning in the embers And I cast you from this vessel one last time No longer a void to fill A heart to warm Or a home to have I watched the blood trickle And I think of a lifetime A child and a spoon What is loss? Where does it go? The skeleton in your closet really was me Your little Death; And a star fell from heaven when I touched your face What does it all mean? To have and to hold To bleed my last breath A child of hope I held onto just that little bit longer In case you felt like calling me home. |
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Untitled 2020 Laura Condren Paperbark, yarn and acrylic on Canvas 110x81 Accompanying Poem
T̶h̶u̶r̶s̶d̶a̶y̶ Wrapped up in a parcel; Lobbed into the valley R̶a̶y̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶s̶u̶n̶l̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ A̶ ̶p̶o̶n̶c̶h̶o̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶w̶o̶ ̶c̶u̶p̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶e̶a̶̶ T̶o̶d̶a̶y̶ ̶I̶ ̶b̶e̶g̶i̶n̶ ̶a̶g̶a̶i̶n̶ I never would have come here if I knew forever was a year F̶e̶e̶l̶ ̶c̶l̶o̶s̶e̶r̶;̶ ̶d̶i̶f̶f̶e̶r̶e̶n̶t̶ Alone in myself A̶ ̶p̶l̶a̶c̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶o̶t̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶l̶o̶a̶d̶ ̶T̶h̶u̶r̶s̶d̶a̶y̶,̶ ̶T̶h̶u̶r̶s̶d̶a̶y̶ ̶T̶h̶u̶r̶s̶d̶a̶y̶ |
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Untitled 2020 Laura Condren Earth, ochre, iron nails, linen, cotton on Canvas 77x62 Accompanying Poem
Trees burn The lake whispers shadows Gravel road proves treacherous Past begins to unwind Unravel and shrink Tiny heart and a cold case of beer beside me I thought it was longing Being this near Instead we are strangers I hope to never see you sad eyed stranger The anger The guilt Pry the book from my hands Ask me if what’s yours can no longer be mine- It can’t. It can’t. So leave the mountain Bleed in the stream. |
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Untitled 2020 Laura Condren Earth, acrylic, ochre, clay, linen, cotton on Canvas 77x62 Accompanying Poem
And as I rinse away the dreams we made I scrub the layers of dead skin Until I’m red and raw Memories we made; -Burn to the touch. I claw at the dust you left I scratch my skin so pink That the girl who meets me at the mirror Finally resembles what lies ahead of rock bottom. I am clean- This is my morning routine. |
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"Earthbleed" 2020
Laura Condren Clay, ochre, yarn, house paint, acrylic and bedsheets on Canvas 95x62 Accompanying Poem
For a time autumn felt like Spring with you But now as winter peeks through my window each morning It feels less hopeful Like the Spring that never came in a year like 2007, Where the power went out and we forgot wood for the fire In that sad long cold I never quite forgave. I’m not sure I’ll forgive myself for letting you plant sunflowers Where you neglected to shower them in your light. I’m just not ready to let go of the hurting, The pain. |
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We would like to acknowledge the Gadigal people who are the Traditional Custodians of this land. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders past, present and emerging of the Eora Nation and extend that respect to other Aboriginals present.
Sovereignty was never ceded. |
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