Jacob "love" Squire/ Consciously Grey/ Triptych/ acrylic and wax crayon on canvas/ 1st year Visual Arts QUT|| Consciously Grey is a series of paintings that delve into the acceptance of fear, paranoia and resolving toxic traits with in one's self. The paintings depict the collision with one's demons and poor habits in an effort to overcome and resolve said issues. These paintings dredge up the dark creatures that dwell with in one's subconsciousness and personality and brings them out into the light of day in an effort to cleanse them from the self for good.

Kerenza Herndon/ Components of Beauty/ Coloured Pencils/ Year 11/ Toowoomba State High School || When looking at Sophie Harris-Taylor’s beautiful photographic series, ‘Epidermis’, her pictures called to me. Her work then became my reference for ‘Components of Beauty’. I wished to continue her valuable message of acceptance. ‘Epidermis’ is one of the many examples of how the stereotypical ideal of beauty is changing. ‘Components of Beauty’ is a representation of what I find beautiful – I hope it can act as a catalyst to help others see the world in a similar light.

Keina Dixon/ Okaasan/ Acrylic Paint/ Year 12/ Ferny Grove State High School || From birth to death, an individual’s motivations and actions frequently evolve as a result of the experiences in their life. However, the complexity of a person’s life is never entirely comprehensible to anyone but themselves. My painting explores these themes by manipulating subject matter to portray diverse representations of time and memory. The focus in my work is on my mother’s immigration from Japan to Australia. On each end of the composition are landscapes from Gifu’s Iwate and Brisbane’s New Farm Park, they disperse and distort near the centre of the piece to meet the edges of my mother’s portrait. I wanted to suggest that her character is the amalgamation of the experiences that accompany the two countries.

Isabella Smith/ AGAIN/ Pen (Sharpie), pencil, watercolour/ Year 12/ San Sisto College || My artwork I have explored the dual elements of birth and death. Birth is the emergence of something new. People often make connotation around birth being the beginning to something. For that reason, people believe death is the opposite of this. Death for many people represent the end of life. However together birth and death are a cycle. Many cultures and religions believe in recreation and this cycle is everlasting. In my artwork I focused on the Buddhism beliefs of recantation, which occurs when a soul is transferred itself from one body to another and based on how good your karma is you will move up to more powerful bodies.

Isabella Smith/ AGAIN/ Pen (Sharpie), pencil, watercolour/ Year 12/ San Sisto College || My artwork I have explored the dual elements of birth and death. Birth is the emergence of something new. People often make connotation around birth being the beginning to something. For that reason, people believe death is the opposite of this. Death for many people represent the end of life. However together birth and death are a cycle. Many cultures and religions believe in recreation and this cycle is everlasting. In my artwork I focused on the Buddhism beliefs of recantation, which occurs when a soul is transferred itself from one body to another and based on how good your karma is you will move up to more powerful bodies.

Isabella Smith/ AGAIN/ Pen (Sharpie), pencil, watercolour/ Year 12/ San Sisto College || My artwork I have explored the dual elements of birth and death. Birth is the emergence of something new. People often make connotation around birth being the beginning to something. For that reason, people believe death is the opposite of this. Death for many people represent the end of life. However together birth and death are a cycle. Many cultures and religions believe in recreation and this cycle is everlasting. In my artwork I focused on the Buddhism beliefs of recantation, which occurs when a soul is transferred itself from one body to another and based on how good your karma is you will move up to more powerful bodies.

Smessyart / In My Head / 1st year college / Nambour TAFE || When creating art, I mainly use my intuition, so my work usually comes out fast, textured and colourful. For this piece I used a mixture of finger-painting and brushes. I wanted to illustrate how our emotions create a film/filter over our brains which then makes us see the world differently, this is represented by the blue filter in his head and the blue line around him.

Rebecca Buchanan/ Perspectives/ Biro pen on cartridge, thread and wire/ Year 12/ San Sisto College || Every delicate fine line. With these lines it tells a story of decay from a verity of perspectives within the existence of the insect's wing. With deep connection of the past, present and future of decay, the breakout of the life highlights the journey. Through the influenced of Nicholas Blower’s macro paintings of decaying insects, it particularly shows the examination of decay. As the focus of decay was successfully represented throughout finer detail of the visualization and forming of the insect's wing, only a ballpoint black pen used to tell the story. Meanwhile the identification of formal context was used to recognize the various perspectives of life which were manifested to the association of the insect's deep emotions which flourish amongst the work. Connecting to the emotional attachment of Blowers' encounters to his aesthetic, this work was constructed to investigate the profound of the decaying insect.

Brody Beale/ Fractured/ graphite, ink, acrylic on paper/ Year 12/ Iona College || As a person who has a strong connection to urban landscapes my artwork focusses on understanding this environment through my direct experiences within it and then manipulating the structures to suggest movement, time and place. Olafur Elliasson said that ‘every city is always changing’ and my intention is for my mixed media drawings to suggest the symbiosis of the organic and the industrial elements in the city. I want to intertwine the formal elements of cityscapes around us as a way to challenge emotively the way we view and experience the character of a place. The artworks create an image of the urban landscape as an organism that is growing and alive.

Kate Hsu/ Smile/ Acrylic paint, newspaper and pencil/ Year 11/ Ferny Grove State High School || My work is representing my emotions in a surreal way. ‘Smile’ presents how I tried to cover up my sadness at Christmas last year. Everyone around me was having fun. I tried to hide the homesickness in my heart and tried to look as happy as possible. I should have reunited with my family, but because of Covid, I could only stay here, in a foreign country. When my host family brought me to their family gatherings, I always felt out of place and didn’t belong there. Watching other people chatting about life happily, but all I could do was sit and smile awkwardly. It felt like my soul pulled away from my bones, and the joyous atmosphere forces me to put up the corners of my mouth like a stiff smile. The birds around me are endemic to my hometown, which shows how I miss my hometown. The newspaper collaged onto the images are about the virus offers a feeling that I am bound by virus in foreign country.

Layla Manser/ The ageing deadline/ Graphite on cartridge paper/ Year 12/ Loreto College Coorparoo || “For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity”- William Penn. Mortality is inevitable. Our lives are full of changes that ultimately shape who we are and there comes a time where one day we will pause and remember the beauty of the life we once lived. The ageing deadline captures a glimpse into this peaceful moment exploring the concept of accepting one’s death without fear.

Holly Rugers/ Eilish’s Power/ Prismacolor Pencils on Craft Paper/ Year 11/ San Sisto College || Eilish’s Power explores the vulnerability in encouraging change as she continues to push the boundaries of society with strength and courage. The waxy base of the Prismacolor Pencils has been smoothly layered to create a vivid distortion of the face reflecting her rebellious nature. The blurred overlay of the two faces, one subtle and left behind, symbolises how she is rising above the fractured view that the world holds and is empowered to make that much needed change. Directly referenced from The Word’s a Little Blurry cover, this piece represents the power Billie Eilish holds coming from a place of severe mental health struggles to now thriving in a place where she is supported and loved for living by her own rules. Significantly important to the 21st century, this sends a strong message to youth that living freely, and challenging damaging perspectives should be encouraged as it creates a safer more welcoming place for all individuals.

Mia Campbell/ We are what we drink/ Acrylic Paint on Beer Cans/ Year 12/ Ferny Grove State High School || My art series ‘we are what we drink’ explores Australia's deeply imbedded drinking culture and how we have all been brought up to view drinking as a right of way passage. Each can is from a different state of Australia along with its flower emblem. Flowers are universally viewed as beautiful and romantic. Therefore, implementing flowers into my piece is used to contrast the grim, dark and dangerous components of Australia’s drinking culture. They also portray how Australia has romanticised and glorified mass drinking, especially from a young age.

Bailey Lang/ The Need To See More/ Photography/ 1st year Visual Arts QUT|| Bailey Lang is a photographer based on the Gold Coast, Australia. The human body, sexuality and the ways in which these themes are communicated is the main approach to Lang’s practice. Lang is currently studying a BFA Bachelor of Fine Art at QUT. In this work entitled The Need to See More, participation and the gaze of the viewer is central to the framing and interpretation of this work. Lang’s intentional play with depth-perception on the recessed image and raised censorship bar pique’s the audience’s curiosity and invites the viewer to investigate the visible and invisible boundaries set by censorship.

Aleisha Buckley/ Packages of the forgotten/ Mixed media (etching, ink, thread, timber)/ Year 12/ San Sisto College || Identity is a concept people grapple with for years, attempting to figure out their place in society. The environment that influences who someone becomes was analysed with personal interactions connecting to the impermanence of life. Packages of the forgotten explores the variation in identity and the image that one can imprint on another without their physicality. Drawing influence from artists who explore archival images and story-like memory through the manipulation of materials allows deep personal interpretation. Each box contains the image of someone within my life whom I admire with the harsh linear portraits contrasting the delicate embroidery serving as a jarring reminder that life doesn’t last forever. The monotonous layering process is symbolic of the mundane process of life. Challenging the concept of initial judgements with natural materials and decay through a cultural viewpoint allows the media to tell a story, reminding one of who they want to become.

Nicholas Wellington/ Mindscapes/ Oil Pastel on Watercolour Paper/ Year 12/ St Joseph's College, Gregory Terrace || 'Mindscapes' is a collection of framed artworks visualising the theory of "alternate realities". A hypothetical autonomous plane of existence. My work consists of a variety of contrasting landscapes, some of which depict simulated textures and highly saturated colours to emphasise the other-worldly' aspects of each image. Like the warm sultry colours closely depicted the desert landscape of Mars. The mountain forms that appear artificially sculpted and defy gravity, contributing to the notion of alternate realities. Others depict a sombre, monochromatic or muted scene with dead trees and floating rocks above a motionless sea, prompting the audience to question the existence of these altered realities. The desolate settings embody a dying version of our world where life is entirely absent. Understanding how different intensities and temperatures of light reacted with different environments was crucial in maintaining realism, in order to further increase the theory of alternate realities more believable and convincing.

Jacqueline Salles/ CONSUMED//RECLAIMED/ Photography/ Year 12/ Clairvaux Mackillop College || Influenced by the transformation of self-expression and creativity into compliancy under the perceived ‘wants’ of an audience; this portrait is an amalgamation of the desolation and loss that follow objectification, and the loss of identity among artists. The work reflects the external image I project to the world. Previously reliant on external validation, I lost my personal and creative identity while attempting to cater to others wants. The resulting art was bland and generic, having lost what initially defined me. This work shows my journey to reclaim my sense of self, demonstrating that no longer am I “consumed” by my work, but have instead reclaimed it, once again making it my own.

Rafael Pratt/ Aphantasia_1.0/ Steel and paint/ 1st Year Visual Art QUT || This work, and all from the Aphantasia series, are a production of my movements through self-doubt as an artist and how my inability to visualize (aphantasia) has impacted what I thought possible. This work is the first in a series which reflects the journey from the conscious mind down through the dream state and into the subconscious. Aphantasia_1.0 represents the strength of the conscious mind, reflecting its rigidity in turn, while also showing us, through subtly of movement our minds ability to ebb and flow, to learn and adapt and to empower us through constant conceptual evolution.

Jesse Pascoe/ Brain damage/ Acrylic on canvas/ 1st Year Visual Arts QUT || "Brain damage" is a personal representation of the trials of self harm and suicide, depicted with blown out proportions and recognisable silhouettes the image takes you on a journey through the emotions of depression. The artwork strikes a point at the cowardliness of death mimicking a gun in the hand but being too afraid to make it something real. the work sparks emotion making you think of the times in life when it is too much and you want to give up, but also makes you appreciate the way you overcome your fears and prevail through the journey.

Kyran Fetineiai / 3 Visions of Red, Yellow and Tints / Mixed Media / year 11 / St. Joseph's College, Gregory Terrace || This body of work is focused on the art style of still-life and how it can be viewed from different lenses of abstraction, rearrangement and distortion. "3 Visions of Red, Yellow and Tints" was sculpturally formed around the term of 'Altering Reality', working in three's to create harmony, unity and interest. I also maintained an analogous colour scheme of red and yellow to enhance the focal point of the tonal transitions between sunrise and sunset. The forms of spherical objects is repeated throughout the still-life with various unique textures that brings a certain unity to each piece. I challenge how we see certain found objects by reconstructing and abstracting to a three-dimensional form in which has created a fundamental process to build on in this artwork.

Mia Bromage
A World Drowned
2021
Film
1 minute 
Year 12, San Sisto College
​
​The art of storytelling is solely unique to humankind and gives us a power no other species has. Some stories are lost to time, and some evolve into new stories. Despite humanity’s attempts to salvage stories, their true meanings are often lost or displaced in a commotion of humanity’s varying perspectives and contexts throughout the course of history. A World Drowned explores the temporality and impermanence of story through text and landscape. The text comes and goes, is rewritten and scribbled over, and eventually becomes indecipherable and forgotten; this is an imitation of the unpredictable nature of story.

Tess Bakharia
The drive home
2021
Film
17 minute and 33 seconds
QUT

'The drive home' is a representation of my mind as it affects my experience of the world. The medium of video imitates my experience of reality through edited documentation of places around Brisbane that have been significant to me at separate points in time. The video explores the perpetual nature of time and the way past experiences continue to influence us, even after they have happened. Through the context of driving, which creates a particularly prevalent space for contemplation and introspection, the video represents the dichotomous coexistence of the internal and external. Presented in two parts, the video juxtaposes frenzy with meditation, chaos with peace, and fixation with flux, demonstrating the tension between our inner worlds and reality.​​