Sara Phemister
Sara Phemister is a painter living and working on Ngunnawal Country.
Sara has exhibited extensively over the last 28 years, predominately in the Canberra, Southern Tablelands and South Coast areas.
"I am endlessly inspired by capturing and illuminating daily life. My dog asleep in the morning sun, my now adult children absorbed in a task, and the shifting landscape around me. It is a collection of these moments that I want to remember."
"Drawing is the basis for my practice. I paint in oil onto board and am increasingly interested in how the application of paint suggests line and form and becomes a language to tell our stories."
Photo by Hannah Cole.
Artist’s statement
When I started thinking about the work for this show, I felt some nervousness- in the sense that the work I find myself drawn to make, is extremely personal- and I wondered what the resonance of that would be for anyone else. In conversation with Martyn Pearce about this, Tyger Gallery’s owner, he suggested the title of the show - At Home With - and made the point that it can be a broad umbrella.
That title has set the tone for the work I have made. It felt incredibly affirming that he thought these personal pieces would have some meaning for other people, and also planted the seed for a bigger idea, what is it we are at home with?
Obviously the first thing is to acknowledge the extreme privilege of having a home. A safe place to retreat to, to welcome others into, a place where you can be your most unguarded self.
The thoughts that followed once I started painting were thinking about time passing, the rituals we implement, what actually is ours and what isn’t.
We found our house in 1997. It was a four room, almost derelict- ie affordable- cottage on the Yass River. It was love at first sight for me. Our two children, Hannah and Jack, were born and grew up here and now both live quite faraway.
The original house was built in 1853, so it was already the keeper of so many stories, and now ours too. So much life. Good things, hard things, more than one disgusting mouse plague!
Because we have lived here for a long time, I kind of see this place in layers, so memories of things, dogs, rabbits and a pony we have loved so much, moments from when our kids were little, beloved friends who aren’t here anymore, sit beside in a very palpable way, what home looks and feels like now. There is so much comfort in that.
This beautiful Haiku by Basho,
Even in Kyoto
Hearing the Cuckoo’s call
I long for Kyoto
In the beginning of the beautiful book by Clover Stroud - The Giant on the Skyline, on Home, Belonging and Learning to Let Go.
Sums it up perfectly for me.
So the paintings themselves recount precious memories, things that happened, quiet moments, sense of place. It has been an extremely meditative experience painting these works, trying to make sense of the tangled tapestry that home is to me.
I am truly grateful to Tyger, Martyn Pearce and Sally Rasmussen for their tender and fierce support of me and so many like me.
Sara Phemister, 2024.