CARLA HANANIAH: Mapping the Insurmountable

Carla Hananiah’s latest work, Mapping the Insurmountable, is all about the love between a person and the land.

Inspired by a trip to the South Island of New Zealand, she said it is a continuum of her romantic and painterly response to the land:
“The mountains looming as gentle giants, the feeling of being towered over…I felt like being in their presence spoke to me.”

Hananiah explained her obsession with rivers and how each piece is more work from her visual diary than anything else:
“I became quite obsessed with wanting to paint them from every angle – each facet tells a different story. The mountains and my experience of them became an internal soul journal of sorts.”

One of the reason she paints natural settings is to ‘soak in nature’ and focus more on the bigger picture in life: “Beholding beauty puts everything into perspective for me. I think that by painting what takes me away from my small everyday worries and focusing on the grand, the beautiful – there is a new truth to be found.”

She hopes when someone has her work in their house they can look at it, feel calm and realise it’s all going to be okay. (AMal)

Until August 8. Arthouse Gallery, 66 McLachlan Avenue, Rushcutters Bay. Free Entry. Info: arthousegallery.com.au