Anna Dibble

My work is grounded in landscape, and in my love of the wild. It’s driven by how alienated from the ‘natural world’ we have become and what has occurred because of this. It’s an imaginary narrative about life on earth: from animals and plants in early oceans recorded in layers of rock, to our current dysfunctional ecosystem chronicled in ice cores, to a possible hot future of evolved amalgamated beings. It’s a personal mythology in an alternative world of non-linear, circular time. I’m interested in the interconnections between species, and how they influence our lives. So into the studio I carry this curiosity, my life as a child in an untamed place, my reading of poetry/myth/natural history, and my concern for what we have done to our planet’s atmosphere and its inhabitants. In that special workspace, I try to erase these ideas from my brain. To leave thought and emotion outside the studio walls where they belong. I attempt to use their nature to spark a faithful translation into painting. I trust the materials and tools to help guide me into the mysterious and ineffable place of who I am.

The current series, ‘Requiem’ emerges from our climate and biodiversity crises – affecting everyone from plankton to primate. All living beings are refugees of a kind, lost in the dark, blindly searching for something elusive, and not often finding it. The paintings address our strong biological urge to survive, hold hope and curiosity close to our hearts, and keep trying to follow unanswered questions, no matter the odds.