Emily Krewsew

Artist statement

Emily Kresew creates artwork in a flow state, constantly evolving, adapting, reflecting on her surroundings and connecting with the natural environment for grounding. Emily engages in a mindful and meditative state to focus on the process and experience of creating. Her artwork reflects on the intertwined connection of humans and nature, allowing the viewer to interpret their own meaning.

In her neckpiece, Basalt Shores, Emily Kresew accentuates the lava flow evident in the Bundaberg region’s shorelines, where she resides. Emily embraces the tranquility in exploring the vast marine ecosystems created by the lava flow both on land and in the sea.

The region’s mesmerising rock formations along the shorelines and extraordinary marine life demonstrate the adaptability of nature to thrive after the Hummock took its last breath as a volcano.

Basalt Shores represents the interconnectedness of nature and symbolises the beauty of resilience in adversity.

Emily Kresew was raised on Yorta Yorta country along the Murray river, surrounded by majestic gum trees and scar trees, where she grew a quiet connection to the landscape and continues to draw inspiration from it. Scar trees can hold a strong connection to First Nations People as they could be made from their ancestors carving out bark for items including carriers, shields or canoes. The scars can also be formed by natural causes such as bushfires or storms, holding this history and story within the tree, encapsulating all that the tree has endured.

We all have our own scars, visible or not, and Emily explores the expression of both beauty and pain through her representation of scar trees with a human connection.