Perth Voice Interactive

THE pull of your childhood is like nothing else.

Perth artist Jo Darbyshire had not been to her hometown Lake Grace in five decades, but after doing an artist residency there in 2019, she reconnected with her past and all the glowing memories came flooding back.

“It had been 50 years since I had lived there, but I instantly felt at home again,” Darbyshire says.

“I remembered all the streets and the lakes on which I had learnt to swim and water ski as a child.

“It was an amazing experience and I fell in love again with the country and the light in Lake Grace.” 

Situated in the eastern Wheatbelt, the remote town has a population of about 500, but it’s quite well known as Perth holidaymakers often stop there en route to Esperance or when travelling between Albany and the Wheatbelt.

Known for its vast salt lakes, beautiful sunsets and agricultural setting, in recent years the town has opened a “multi art space” where people can learn and participate in local art projects.

It has become a breeding ground for talented artists including Kerrie Argent, who won the Cottesloe Sculpture by the Sea People’s Choice Prize in 2010, and the town has become synonymous with artworks made from recycled materials like aluminium cans, plastic bags and plastic bottle tops.

After reconnecting with her hometown, Darbyshire felt an urge to return and paint the surrounding rural landscape.

She was particularly drawn to the salt lakes, abstracting the sun and water into huge blobs of colour for her latest exhibition Mirage.

“I was trying to capture the feeling of being in that landscape at sunset – the glow of the colours and the unique sense of space,” Darbyshire says.

“Driving in salt lake country with the windows down. The flickering illusion of water on the road, a shimmering mirage, elusive and compelling.”

Darbyshire says she admires the landscape painting of the late Guy Grey-Smith, who pioneered modernism in Western Australia.

She’s also a fan of WA photographer Brad Rimmer, who recently held a fascinating exhibition on the desolate  town halls in the Wheatbelt.

Rimmer would love the history of Lake Grace – in 1926 an Australian Inland Mission hospital was opened there.

It ceased operating in 1952 and was set for demolition in 1983, but locals successfully campaigned for it to be restored and turned into a hospital museum.

Hopefully the burgeoning art scene will give Lake Grace a new lease of life.

Art seems to be pervading the region – about 20km north on the Tin Horse Highway there’s a quirky collection of brightly coloured sculptures in the paddocks of local farms.

Mirage is at the WA Art Collective gallery in Cathedral Square in the Perth CBD from March 9 – April 13. More info at artcollectivewa.com.au

by STEPHEN POLLOCK