- Ray Monde
Taking another look at forgotten works
Sometimes I create an artwork that’s a little unloved. It gets turned around to face the studio wall and is kind of forgotten about. I recently came across this work ‘Who pushed Annette?’.
When I was about 8 years old, my cousins visited our house from Sydney. My mum and dad were renovating our house.
Six cousins were standing in the doorway looking into this chasm where the floor used to be. I nudged my cousin to see what would happen and she fell into the pit and impaled her head on a rusty nail.
She didn’t know who pushed her; I didn’t tell her. This piece is a visual confession. Sorry Annette!
I wasn’t happy with the vibrant orange background, it dominated the work and made the piece overwhelming.
I repainted the background to reflect the hot dry summer grass and filled the sky with the dazzling blue of an Australian summer. The goat adds perspective and in a way reflects my guilty conscience that I carried around for 35 years.