Seeking Silence

Drawn to the temporality of street art and the almost geological ways in which it is formed, layered, and exposed over time, Melbourne artist Amber-rose Hulme's images bring us up close and personal with the gritty surfaces of Melbourne's inner city laneways. Capturing the ephemeral truth of place, her images engage ideas of time, lived experience and the inevitable decay that ensues. This will be Amber-rose's 4th solo exhibition with the gallery.

Watch Amber-rose discussing her practice

'Externally and internally, we are barraged by constant conversation. The need to find silence increasing with each added layer. Noise snaps at our heels, but we must find time in the still to breathe. My works use the shifting, dynamic strokes of graffiti to represent the cacophony of noise surrounding us. The deep perspective of these Melbourne streets enticing you to enter the glow of silence.' Artist Statement 2023

Seeking SilenceCatalogue essay by Kate McAuley 2023

For the artist Amber-rose Hulme, graffiti is not merely a few words or pictures sprayed hastily on a Melbourne inner-city wall, but both conversation and metaphor. When viewed holistically, each anarchic missive adds to a messy, unplanned chorus of discordant ‘voices,’ in which the original meaning is lost, and a new way of communicating has begun. Here Hulme sees interplay and history as each new addition partially erases or augments those that came before it. Exposure to the elements also have an effect. Heat causes paint to crack, flake and peel while rain erodes. In addition, pollution and the build-up of inner-city grime play a role, accruing their own chemical influence. The layers of paint either build up or disappear, and in some places expose the brick wall beneath. The result is temporal as well as ephemeral; paradoxically random and uniform; and, for Hulme, far greater than the sum of its parts. 

The artist’s decision to use pastels to bring this complex tableau to her work could be seen as an incongruous choice. Unlike the speed it takes for a wall to be tagged with spray paint, Hulme opted to work with a time-consuming medium. Pastels are also seen as traditionally ‘feminine’ most commonly used to produce soft-edged still-life and landscape studies. In Hulme’s capable hands, however, the pigment is pressed into the paper with both precision and vigour - the result is visceral as well as tactile. With respectful, rather than gentle application, the artist has also rendered the feel of the city wall, likening the sense of running her fingers across her work to the layers of paint that decorate the urban landscapes that so inspire her. 

It is through further consideration and introspection, however, that Hulme discovered the deeper message for this collection. For the artist, these inner-city scenes are profoundly symbolic, representing the clamour of the external as well as internal noise we all face on a daily basis. As such, Hulme demotes the chaos of the urban street scene to a supporting role, employing a deep perspective to highlight a clear path through the cacophony. 

It could be said that these empty streets heading towards a horizon of bright promise are the most arresting elements of the works on display here. Eschewing a voyeuristic approach, Hulme instead places the viewer wholly within the scene. One can almost hear our own footsteps echoing off of the walls as Hulme confidently guides us towards a moment of quiet. The result is welcome and meditative in nature, evoking a feeling of solitude rather than loneliness - and a deep sense of calm.

ARTIST BIO: Amber-rose Hulme has been a finalist in numerous awards including the Hazelhurst Art on Paper Award (2021, 2019), the Muswellbrook Art Prize (2019, 2018, 2015), Bendigo Art Gallery’s biennial Paul Guest Prize (2018), the Rick Amor Art Prize (2016), the Stanthorpe Art Prize (2016), the Hutchins Art Prize (2015) and the Sunshine Coast Art Prize (2015). Hulme first exhibited with FLG during our annual emerging artist exhibition, Exploration 15, and was subsequently signed on to the gallery stable in 2016. Her artwork Tranquil Neglect was acquired by the Art Gallery of Ballarat for their permanent collection in 2016. She held her first solo exhibition with the gallery in 2017.