Sentinel

Heart of Darkness is a visually rich showcase of artworks that appeal to Gothic aesthetic sensibilities and our dark desires through associated colour palettes, symbols and motifs. It features fourteen contemporary Australian artists working in ceramics, jewellery, glass, fibres and multimedia who have embraced dark themes to produce beautiful, mysterious and macabre Gothic-tinged artworks. 

Darkness isn’t absence – it’s where the soul thrives.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Working from her Flinders (VIC) studio, weaver Emma Shepherd practices one of the world's oldest crafts with the sensibility of an artist deeply embedded in her environment.

Thinking through fabric, its strength and its structure, Shepherd has acquired an innate understanding of textiles as a universal language, and the long history of weaving as a site of innovation, intuition, and intimacy. The Bauhaus ethos remains central to Shepherd’s practice, where art, craft and design are seamlessly integrated without hierarchy.

Carefully selected yarn affords Shepherd the opportunity to reflect on the deeper lineage of fibre, allowing each material - especially those collected from sites around the studio - to shape the work in a gentle yet deliberate way. She sensitively honours the landscape within which she lives and works by periodically folding in colours resembling the verdant foliage, the dark tones of tree trunks, the neutrals of the sand and stone of her coastal hometown.