Somehow we carry on 2023
Watercolour, ink and gouache on bamboo toilet paper Framed 200 x 75cm
 
Currently on display at the Yarra Ranges Regional Museum until September 8 with the Stories of Giants exhibition.
 
While 7 million people around the world were dying from COVID-19, others hoarded toilet paper and argued about vaccines, lockdowns and conspiracy theories.
At the same time, unprecedented storms, floods and fires raged around Australia as we began to feel the very real impacts of climate change.
In winter 2021, at Mt Corhanwarrabul (the Dandenong Ranges) where I live, a devastating storm destroyed 129 homes. An estimated 25,000 trees fell that night, lying down like pick-up sticks with no defenses against the wind that came from the wrong direction.
Facts have become buried in the mess, and the scientists unheard. My work over this time has been about painting the real experiences of sorrow and hope and our complicated connection with the land.
While we move through multiple tragedies, we can also embrace the beauty and wonder of new growth, resilience, friendships and love. .  
Somehow we carry on. 
 
 
Emma Jennings paints from her studio gallery in Australia’s beautiful Dandenong Ranges rainforest. Emma uses layers of tone, pattern and botanical studies to investigate metaphysical and ecological connections in the natural world.
 
Thank you for supporting a local artist and Australian artisans
 
Emma respectfully acknowledges the traditional owners, the Wurundjeri people, as the custodians of the land where she lives and works.