Jemma Stewart
Grief 

2023
acrylic on canvas
30.5 x 30.5cm

This painting represents the grief that Aboriginal
people experienced and still experience because of
the invasion of Australia. The attempt to strip the
land and culture from Aboriginal people, resulted in
mass murder and bloodshed. This painting tells a
story of the grief that mothers, fathers, children, and
community go through as they mourn sacred places,
and people they love. I used images such as a crying
eye, and an ocean of water to represent the pain and
loneliness that is experienced during grief. The water
is rippling outwards, expressing the hopeless feeling
of longing for something that feels lost forever, and
the impact of losing something or someone so close
to the heart. The ripples eventually reach a series
of circles at the edge of the painting. These circles
show that this person, or place is not forever lost,
and instead lives on inside of us.