Pacia Sallomi - Passages

Passages will be in the gallery March 4-29

Artist Statement

The title for this show is inspired by the multiple meanings associated with the word, “passage”— a transition from one state of being to another, one place to another, one perspective to another… passage as a noun, as a verb — it is a place…it is an act of movement. 

Painting is my research.  I don’t know what I am entering when I begin a painting, but I allow it to develop intuitively.  I often don’t consciously understand the symbols that appear until the painting is well underway or even sometimes after it is complete.  Critically, these roundabouts are all aerial views of specific landscapes—often, but not always, they are roadways.  When I first encountered Aboriginal Australian painting, in 2009, I sensed that they were landscapes.  I knew it had to do with “walkabouts” but I could not understand this perspective.  It was many years into this series that I heard an Aboriginal answer this question, “how is it that you navigate through this land?” (which in this case was quite flat).  The answer was, “by seeing it from above, how else?”

This page is under construction - Artworks will be added soon