Grade 12 - 2012 Grace

At the beginning of my two year course, I was interested in mythology because when I was young, I heard a lot of stories and myths. When I look at art works, there are a lot of them which are myth-based, and this added to my interest.  At the same time, I was also interested in water. This is because I love playing in water, and the free flowing way of water attracts my attention. When I began researching about myths, I started seeing the connection between mythologies and stars. This is because myths are made from the shapes made by connecting the stars, and my interest started to shift into the stars. During my trip to Borneo, at night, I saw the night sky, showered with myriads of stars. At that moment, I was speechless and breathless, I felt as if I was so small, and I was blown away by the magnificent display of beauty. This has caused me to focus more on stars, compared to mythology and water. However, since stars and mythology are deeply interconnected, I couldn’t separate the two. This has made me come into the decision of depicting the mythologies in the form of stars.

I wanted to paint my stars in a way that the viewers can see that the stars are glowing, and not just dots of paint on a canvas. After many experimental paintings, I found a way to satisfy my demand. I started painting my stars, forming a unison line and shape, instead of scattering it across the canvas. My interest with stars is going really well, until my trip to New Zealand changed my mind. Having to live in a country like Indonesia since birth, when I got to New Zealand, I was amazed by the land space.