Sydney based artist, artworker and creative, Rosie Perl has turned her mind inward and traced the arc of her history for a new exhibition at The Lost Ones Gallery, Ballarat. Open from 12 to 30 October, Inscapes features a series of works on canvas, relief sculptures and mise-en-scènes, which blend together the delicate balances of the memories from her childhood in Papua New Guinea, Malaysia and Indonesia, which are in turns unsettling and reassuring. 

The exhibition title refers to the works themselves, which are an interpretation of Perl’s inner landscape; a private space inhabited by her thoughts, dreams, memories and emotions. As a series, the works explore universal themes such as loss, grief, faith, nostalgia and beauty. 

“The works in the exhibition are a reflection of the memories I have from the time I spent in Papua New Guinea as a child, which were quite a contrast to the experiences of my recent visit,” Ms Perl said. “I was confronted by the level of poverty and desperation which wasn’t present in my childhood memories. The works in this exhibition are a method of reconciling my childhood sense of self with my renewed experience and how this informs and progresses my present.” 

In the exhibition, Perl also explores the concept of the mask, constructing her own smooth egg-shaped sculptures in homage to the traditional totemic Papua New Guinean wicker-woven tribal masks. “I imagine these body masks as being elegant, pure sculptural forms, careworn and polished by the years, carefully and laboriously hand crafted," Perl says, "whilst the lacquered, stitched and embellished works on canvas are as rich and multilayered as memories.” 

 Rosie Perl spent her childhood in South East Asia, living with with her ex-pat parents, before returning to Australia aged 12. She completed a Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art), at Griffith University, Brisbane, and has worked as an artist and art consultant in London and Sydney. Inscapes is her first solo exhibition. 

For further information, visit www.thelostones.com.au. Interviews available on request. 

About The Lost Ones - The Lost Ones is a contemporary art gallery and creative makers space in the heart of heritage Ballarat. Housed in an 1870s-era Masonic temple, The Lost Ones hosts exhibitions, workshops, performances, art classes and more. From contemporary art to time-honed crafts, The Lost Ones has a diverse and dynamic program that profiles artists from regional Victoria and across Australia. The gallery is the only commercial gallery in the city of Ballarat, and is part of the Camp Street Arts and Culture Precinct, which includes the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery.