These colour pencil drawings are reworkings of sketches that I recently found in an old journal from late 2017. It was the summer after I graduated high school in Perth, I was 17 years-old and considering making the move to Melbourne. I distinctly remember it was an anxiety-ridden couple of months, as I felt that I had outgrown my hometown but knowing that moving would mean leaving behind my whole support network. These contorted bodies represented myself and my conflicted emotions during this time.

The first drawing expresses the physical, internal urge and angst that lasted all summer and manifested in a lot of irritability at my family. The second is a reference to the pale blue hair ribbons that was part of our uniform at my incredibly sheltered private high school. I had a feeling of being very bubbled up and so many things that were part of my daily life, like hair ribbons, felt very nonsensical. The third artwork is finally breaking out of that bubble and innocence and letting go of the familiar place that had formulated my identity.

By redrawing these sketches, I wanted to revisit that uncomfortable time in my teen years and look back at the map of where I’ve come from. I wanted to explore how place- specifically places you have called home- is an anchor that can be a grounding, nourishing force and can eventually point you in new directions.