lori pensini

artist statement -  This body of work focuses on the wattle, Australia's national flower and the banksia, an Australian icon. The pollen and seed from wattles and the nectar from banksias  play a vital part in the food chain of Australian wildlife supporting nectarivorous birds, parrots, possums, insects and mammals. They are an integral part of aboriginal culture and a key source for food, building, toolmaking, hunting and medicines.  

Holding prominence in the Australian bush with both ecological and cultural significance, the wattle and banksia are quintessentially the metaphoric fabric of my current art practice.  The blooms are symbols, totems for the human form and highlights personality traits akin to the growth characteristics of the plant form.  The iridescent flowerings represent the women in my family, their blooms tell stories of colonial and pastoral endurance, the attribute of hope, the evanescence of human life that has gone before me. The dominant use of yellow, the flush of early spring embodies fertility of mind and body and hints at the women we are and are to become.