Mornington Community Art Space - Jessie Willow Tucker

Next date: Tuesday, 30 September 2025 | 11:00 AM to Tuesday, 11 November 2025 | 11:00 AM

Image: Heart shaped hole, Acrylic on Canvas, 40cm x 30cm, 2023

 

Artist Statement

Behold the threshold. Thresholds appear in my work as physical divisions between land and sea, between underwater and above water, between my body and the rest of the world. They are an entry point to somewhere beyond and the point at which something begins or changes.

My work is inspired by the coastline where I live on Bunurong land on the Mornington Peninsula. My experience of the tidal pools, the beaches and the cliffs act as thresholds for me personally as I transition from one state to another, physically, when I submerge my body in water, or walk from rock onto sand, as well as mentally and emotionally. 

Thresholds are places of potential and transformation, but they are also the point at which one state cannot function or continue any further. Climate change is already affecting coastlines. Thresholds have been passed. My use of colour suggests an unfamiliar environment, one that has changed forever. In my work I play with questions about our relationship to thresholds, as individuals and as a society.

The Bunurong people are the traditional custodians of the land on which I work. I paint from my own experience and understanding of the land and water, my perspective as a white settler influences my perception and depiction and of the landscape. I acknowledge that there are tens of thousands of years’ worth of stories and knowledge of this land and water, much of which has been lost as direct result of colonisation. I honour the Bunurong people and their continuing knowledge and connection to the coastline from which I draw my inspiration.  

Bio

Jessie Willow Tucker completed a Bachelor of Fine Art (Painting) at RMIT in 1999. Since then, she has worked in many different mediums including installation, sculpture, textiles and drawing. Jessie is a published children’s book illustrator and has exhibited in non-commercial galleries around Melbourne, contributed to group shows and painted public murals. Jessie’s primary art practice is painting, and she works in her backyard studio on Boonwurrung land on the Mornington Peninsula.

Instagram: @jessiewillowtucker

 

 

When

Location

Mornington Library foyer entrance, Vancouver St, Mornington, 3931, View Map