Somewhere to Land: Jody Graham

Jody Graham’s commitment to the environment is absolute. Dissatisfied with imagining the landscape, the artist abandons traditional drawing and painting techniques in search of new methodologies. The resulting work, in effect, becomes part of the land that she walks. Along with charcoal—that most primitive of media—Graham sources natural pigments and uses found objects as drawing implements.

For Graham, mark making is paramount. Her meditative process involves circumnavigating her surrounds, collecting found objects to imprint her marks. The implements—the morphing of strange objects—have become artefacts, almost Neolithic, and are evidential in the artist’s process. By challenging preconceived ideas about how drawing marks should be made, Graham allows for a more immersive and organic creative experience. The culmination of this unique practice is a raw yet articulate imagery that speaks of her world.

The devastation of the fire storm that enveloped much of NSW in 2019/20 has provided the genesis for this body of work. From the landscape to the flora and fauna that inhabit it, Graham investigates every nuance, weaving her narrative and deep love of the land into the picture plane. There is optimism in the work from this period. Out of the ashes we find beauty and life—a regeneration of the land and our psyche.

Graham has enjoyed success as the winner of the Greenway Art Prize in 2017 and 2020 and has been a finalist in numerous major painting and drawing prizes including the Kedumba Drawing Award, Blake Prize, the Plein Air Painting Prize at the Parliament of NSW and the Dobell Drawing Prize. Graham’s works are held in many public collections nationally as well as private collections nationally, in the United Kingdom, the United States of America and New Zealand.