‘Still Lives – Ancestral Ghosts’ is about ancestry and ‘sense of place’.

During artist residencies with the Bundanon Trust in 2008 and 2010, my interest turned toward the old Homestead at Bundanon and its early past.
Located near the Shoalhaven River, the house and its surrounds possess a strong sense of spirit, making it easy to visualise days gone by.

Originally the land of the Wodi Wodi people of the Yuin nation, European families eventually came to settle on the property. Their documented histories and their stories, whether told or, more often untold, represent the stories of many of ‘our’ broader ancestral beginnings.

The drawings created on site and subsequently the drawings and paintings that evolved in my studio, aim to have a familiarity that many of us recognise in our own past. They depict our ancestors in their ‘sense of place’ – they look back at us through their lives.

Maryanne Wick

Note: I wish to acknowledge the Bundanon Trust for use of their information and documents.