Artist Statement

I map my understanding of places, objects and experiences through sculpture. My artworks grow from a process of problem solving, where I apply a new logic to familiar objects. I draw on what I recognise and understand in attempt to grasp what is new or challenging.

My sculptures take the form of unlikely combinations of domestic or utilitarian objects and fragments of the human body. In adjusting these forms, for example, a backpack or a ladder, I work to construct metaphors that highlight the connections that I see between geographical expeditions and a more internalised experience of navigation.

Comparisons between the domestic interior and the outdoors began to emerge in my making during my first international residency in Arbroath, a small fishing town on the east coast of Scotland (2008). As a traveller I continue to reflect on the concept of locating oneself in transit, of moving forward and looking back. I consider themes such as orientation, disorientation, the familiar and the unknown.

As a sculptor I am fascinated by the fundamental role that our bodies play in our understanding of space, movement, communication and identity. The human body appears throughout my work, or is referred to through objects, garments and helmets. Beginning in 2011, my ongoing project entitled "Head Above Water", is based on the helmet's potential to represent "mind space".

During my residency at Saksala Art Radius Art Centre in regional Finland (2011) I became interested in the layers of soil, snow, ice and water that form the winter landscape. Throughout my stay, I observed the accumulation, movement and dissipation of the organic environment around me. I came to find that these layers had the capacity to mimic, exaggerate, conceal and reveal the objects that lay beneath. This observation is the underpinning influence of my most recent sculptures, as I work to translate these layers into landscapes of the psyche.

- by Melanie Fitzmaurice

About the Artist:

Melanie Fitzmaurice is an Australian Artist living and working in rural Victoria, Australia. Melanie completed her Bachelor of Arts (Visual) with Honours, majoring in Sculpture at the Australian National University, School of Art, Canberra in 2007. As a recipient of travel scholarships awarded by The Royal Over-Seas League, London, The Freedman Foundation, Sydney and Saksala Art Radius, Haukivuori, Fitzmaurice has partaken in residencies based in regional Scotland (2008) and Finland (2011).

Last September Melanie was represented at the Korean International Art Fair (KIAF/11) in Seoul.