Susanne Kerr's first public solo exhibition, 'Remnants', with Pātaka Art & Museum encompasses her interest in our precarious relationship with nature and the histories of encounter, exchange, depletion and survival that our environment tell.

​

Her paintings are abundant with birds, flowers, ribbons and all manner of plant life, sourcing material from the native bush close to her Wellington studio to envelope her human forms. These constructed worlds overflow with cultural references and biodiversity; where native, endemic, and introduced species intertwine, and elements of Chinoiserie and Ikebana are woven into botanical scenes.

 

This layered approach in narrative complements her creative practise where many of her artworks repurpose pre-exisiting paintings, overworking or manipulating them through sgraffito or a process Kerr describes as 'cut-paintings'.

 

These processes of re-using and re-forming reflect her curiosity about the loss of, and intermingling of remnant habitats. In drawing connections between fragments, her paintings consider the relationship of humans to the environments they live within, and re-create.

 

Link to Remnants at Pātaka Art & Museum. 

 

Images of the artworks in the Remnants exhibition below.

Click image for details and to expand.