The Reclamation
Sarah Drinan
3
April 2024
3
April
2024
26
April 2024
Gallery 1
In Celtic folklore, the Selkie, a shapeshifting creature, traverses between seal and female form. The Selkie’s fate takes a turn when her seal skin is stolen by a man, driven by greed and desire, condemning her to life on land. Trapped in human form and thrust into motherhood, she yearns for meaning amidst disconnection. After many years, she finds her stolen skin, a symbol of her liberation, prompting her decision to abandon her human life and reclaim her authentic self underneath the waves.
The Reclamation features seven intaglio etchings inspired by the Selkie’s plight, that echo the estrangement from both body and land that permeates modern life. Each etching is a meditation on the nature of being in a body, the figures depicted shift between states of subjugation and empowerment, restraint and freedom, domesticity and emancipation. The works unveil a sense of the body’s inherent vulnerability while celebrating its enduring resilience amidst the tides of existence.
Sarah Drinan appears courtesy of FUTURES.
Exhibition documented by Kenneth Suico.
In Celtic folklore, the Selkie, a shapeshifting creature, traverses between seal and female form. The Selkie’s fate takes a turn when her seal skin is stolen by a man, driven by greed and desire, condemning her to life on land. Trapped in human form and thrust into motherhood, she yearns for meaning amidst disconnection. After many years, she finds her stolen skin, a symbol of her liberation, prompting her decision to abandon her human life and reclaim her authentic self underneath the waves.
The Reclamation features seven intaglio etchings inspired by the Selkie’s plight, that echo the estrangement from both body and land that permeates modern life. Each etching is a meditation on the nature of being in a body, the figures depicted shift between states of subjugation and empowerment, restraint and freedom, domesticity and emancipation. The works unveil a sense of the body’s inherent vulnerability while celebrating its enduring resilience amidst the tides of existence.
Sarah Drinan appears courtesy of FUTURES.
Sarah Drinan
Sarah Drinan (b.1994) is a figurative painter whose work considers the body, sexuality, vulnerability and interconnectedness. Within ambiguous settings naked forms contort and glow with fleshy transparency, underpinned by the vast history of figuration. Sometimes they connect or intertwine, and other times they become distorted and isolated, in a state of tension. Devoid of features, her subjects are reduced to a blurred physicality, perhaps hinting at a body that is sensation and transcendence itself.
She has exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions and was recently a finalist in the Ramsay Art Prize (2023) and recipient of Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship (2022). Select solo exhibitions include Flesh Boundaries, FUTURES, Melbourne (2023). Select group exhibitions include The Belly and The Members, Yavuz Gallery (2024) Frozen Blood, Neon Parc, Melbourne (2023) and Spring1883, The Windsor Hotel, Melbourne 2023. Her work is held in public and private collections, including Artbank.