Something Wild

The works on paper are drawn directly in the landscape from a kayak or while sitting on rock platforms in Mirima (WA), Boodjamulla (Qld), and Kakadu (NT) National Parks. In today’s world, it is increasingly rare to encounter something truly wild. As our connections to the natural world fade, I find myself drawn to ecosystems where traces of ancient forms still endure. Drawing becomes a way of slowing down, of observing closely: rocks that have stood for thousands of years, ancient waterbodies and chance viewings of wildlife. For me, drawing is an enabler of immersion, a way of embodying experience and engaging with the unknown. It allows me to enter a place as a visitor—observing, listening, and acknowledging the past and ongoing presence of people, histories and stories stored within these environments. The artist recognises and acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Boodjamulla National Park, the Waanji People, the Mirrawoong People of Mirima National Park and Bininj/Mungguy Traditional Owners of Kakadu National Park.

'Within the realms of fluid dynamics, the term ‘vortex street’ relates to the pattern created by the stillness of a paddle as the current of water flows around it. With several works initiated from the artist positioned in a kayak, the phenomena of a vortex street pattern could appear to correspond with the viewer’s own experience of stillness, allowing the monolithic rock faces to become like a pattern of current passing silently beyond them'. Glen Skien

From the exhibition catalogue, 2025

The series of works on paper by Jude Taggart Roberts invokes the experience of silently meandering across a surface of interweaving lines and gestural forms that lead the viewer on the artist’s own journey. The collision of line and gesture contained within an assemblage of rock constellations, provides a vivid structural format that connects seamlessly with the interpretation of her experience of place.Glen Skien 2025