Helena Hadala RCA...All Series...Coomba Road

 

Coomba Road

 

I have long been inspired by traditional and contemporary Australian Aboriginal art. Even though the iconography in this genre of work is a product of a culture that is not my own, I sense a deep spiritual basis in the work. To quote Sister Wendy Beckett when viewing Aboriginal art: "We have been addressed at some level that is normally closed to the conscious mind" and she further points out "There is no word for 'artist' in Australian Aboriginal culture; the creator of the work is more of a 'vehicle' for the eternal to make its constant presence visible". Intrigued by this atypical approach to the creative process and to fulfill my curiosity about Australian Aboriginal art, I applied for an international residency in Australia.

In November 2008, I traveled to Sydney, Australia where I had the opportunity to view some remarkable Aboriginal art at the museum of New South Wales. I then took a train, 5 hours north of Sydney to an artist's residency located on Coomba Road, an idyllic rural location on the edge of Wallis Lake in the Great Lakes region of New South Wales. The residency afforded me accommodation and a studio space. In the morning, I would awake to see herds of wild kangaroo grazing in the fields surrounding the residency. The following small-scale "Coomba Road" drawings are the product of my sojourn in Australia. Influenced by the sense of place, and an internal way of seeing space, they are my own personal 'Dreamings'.
 

Coomba Road #1 - 2008 Coomba Road #1 - 2008
charcoal and conte on frosted mylar, 15 in × 11 in
NFS
Coomba Road #2 - 2008 Coomba Road #2 - 2008
charcoal and conte on frosted mylar, 15 in × 11 in
NFS
Coomba Road #3 - 2008 Coomba Road #3 - 2008
charcoal and conte on frosted mylar, 12 in × 12 in
Coomba Road #4 - 2008 Coomba Road #4 - 2008
charcoal and conte on frosted mylar, 12 in × 12 in
Coomba Road #5 - 2008 Coomba Road #5 - 2008
charcoal and conte on frosted mylar, 15 in × 10 in
Coomba Road #6 - 2008 Coomba Road #6 - 2008
charcoal and conte on frosted mylar, 15 in × 12 in
Coomba Road #7 - 2008 Coomba Road #7 - 2008
charcoal and conte on frosted mylar, 10 in × 8.5 in
Coomba Road #8 - 2008 Coomba Road #8 - 2008
charcoal and conte on frosted mylar, 10 in × 8.5 in
Coomba Road #9 - 2008 Coomba Road #9 - 2008
charcoal and conte on frosted mylar, 10 in × 8.5 in
SOLD
Coomba Road #10 - 2008 Coomba Road #10 - 2008
charcoal and conte on frosted mylar, 10 in × 8.5 in
SOLD

 

All designs, images and text are copyright to Helena Hadala RCA