Having spent the past few years as a perpetual nomad, passing through some of Australia’s most iconic landscapes, Emily Imeson can speak with authority on the therapeutic benefits of being engulfed by nature. For Imeson, it is fundamental to her wellbeing – living in a 4WD and working from a camp studio where canvases are routinely supported by tree branches instead of easels, provides calm and perspective amongst life’s dramas. It is a way of life that both balances the artist and reinforces her interest in celebrating and preserving the ancient connection between humanity and the land. A truly plein air painter, Imeson’s canvases depict the incredible natural phenomena she witnesses – dramatically transformed landscapes at dusk, the mass movement of wildlife through habitats, arid rockscapes bathed in sunlight, a jet-black sky filled with stars.
To date Imeson’s practice has been as much about the experience of continuous wanderlust as it has the act of painting however newly introduced restrictions to travel and outdoor activities have forced a rethink on how she connects with her environment. Now living a more sedentary lifestyle in Northern New South Wales, she is working from memory, finding new ways to describe the places she has been and learning to embrace change as readily as the landscape around her always has.
Emily Imeson is an alumnus of Southern Cross University, completing her Bachelor of Visual Arts in 2016. Winner of the Macquarie Group Emerging Art Prize in 2019, she was supported by a Young Regional Arts Scholarship through ARTS New South Wales from 2016-18. In 2020 she was a recipient of the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship.
Carrie McCarthy, 2020
