Hayley Lander (Class 2010) was one of two Canberra artists to take out the 2018 Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize

Hayley Lander (Class of 2010) was one of two Canberra artists to take out the 2018 Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize. Hayley won the Emerging artist category with her oil painting The Great Forgetting, a homage to the Canberra landscape, particularly the eucalyptus.

Her painting will be on display along with other winning and highly commended works are at the National Archives of Australia at Old Parliament House from 23 August 2018 to 14 October 2018.

The Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize, from the South Australian Museum, attracts high-calibre entries from around the world and encourages artists to make a statement about the scientific issues facing our planet, and offers a valuable platform for them to contribute to the environmental debate.

Judges comments included – “the highly considered, painterly sophistication of Lander’s work impressed the judging panel, who felt it belied her relative inexperience. While an affe  cting and poignant study in natural history, at one level, the work employed compositional devices more familiar to traditional trompe l’oeil painting at another. The unexpectedly surrealist scaffolding and counter-weighting of its principal subject – eucalyptus leaves in various states of decay – made it a compelling choice.”

Hayley graduated from the ANU School of Art in 2014 and now works as a registrar at the National Gallery of Australia.

Her painting The Great Forgetting depicts a hanging mobile made from eucalyptus leaves and pieces of brick.

The Advertiser reported that it “examines the concept of balance or ‘ecological tipping points’ between the natural and built environments.

Hayley said that “I found a lot of the bricks and all of the specimens on walks around Canberra … I take those into my studio to create compositions. It is actually a hanging mobile … whenever I walk in my studio it twists and turns, and I’m trying to paint this to a high level of detail while it’s moving constantly, so it’s a … challenge.”

The Riot Act reported Hayley said “The eucalyptus has had such a huge impact on our history, social history, economic and also our way of thinking about ourselves, our social identity. I love being able to express such a broad range of ideas through this one species.”

“I’m looking at the little dynamism in our ecology, and our relationship with nature and to nature. We are so deeply connected and that’s what I really want to show in this piece.”

“The painting was a painstaking process that took eight months and involved constant layering until she had ”captured the essence of every little subject matter”.

The Riot Act says she will continue working with her beloved eucalyptus, as well as those Canberra bricks, but for now, she is basking in an achievement way beyond her youthful expectations.

See more on Hayley at her website.