Gustafsson has always been interested in using her art to address issues of environmental damage, pollution, and consumerism. Through her playful juxtaposition of man-made objects and organic elements, her images highlight the uneasy coexistence between the two. This tension is a hallmark of her work, reflecting on the boundaries between the natural and man-made worlds.
‘Souvenirs’ builds on these themes, incorporating recurring symbols of chairs, postcards, and packaging to create scenes that are both precarious and playful, rich with symbolic meaning and layered imagery. Through a series of still-life tableaux she invites viewers to contemplate humanity’s relationship with the environment, challenging us to consider whether we want the natural world to be reduced to mere memories and postcards from a bygone era.
Catalogue essay by Phe Luxford, 2024
Chelsea Gustafsson's latest exhibition, 'Souvenirs', delves into realms of memory, environmental awareness, and the delicate balance between human existence and the natural world. Through the act of painting, the artist seeks to create moments of pause and reflection, encouraging audiences to examine their own memories of, and emotional connections toward, the natural world. Within this series of intimate, finely detailed oil paintings, we observe a solitary chair sitting amongst a jumble of empty cardboard boxes. Gustafsson is depicting a strangely transitional space, a site of activity suspended in either the act of packing away or disposal. For her, the chair represents more than just a piece of furniture; it is a conduit for the human form and a signifier of our lived experience. As she explains, "The presence of the chair suggests that of an observer and also serves as a poignant symbol of humanity's presence or absence." Embedded within each painting are snippets of postcards, ornamental mementos, and book pages lifted from mid to late 20th-century natural history books. Emblematic of a burgeoning childhood fascination with the natural world, these objects serve as a homage to the creatures and habitats that connect us to the world around us. They also serve as a reminder of the importance of preserving our planet for future generations. Referencing these old images highlights the disparity between the empirical health of the natural environment both then and now. "The red-tailed black cockatoo is from my inherited copy of the 1977 Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds," Gustafsson reflects. "I poured over this book as a kid, doing drawings of my favourite birds from its pages. Watching the recent documentary 'Black Cockatoo Crisis' and seeing their declining habitat due to mining and housing development hit me hard. I look at the maps in this old book, of where the various species of birds were once found around Australia, and wonder what a current revised edition would look like." The beige textures of the cardboard boxes, all battered, sellotaped, and crumpled at the edges, dominate the picture plane. Their form is humble and ubiquitous, yet also suggestive of consumption, waste, and containment. When seen as repositories of memory and knowledge, they begin to symbolise what has been lost through decades of relentless consumerism. They become an archive of extinction events, ready to be stored away. While many of Gustafsson's subject choices directly reference troubling news stories, she is quick to emphasise that her paintings are not about these stories themselves. On a personal level, the act of creating helps her process feelings and reactions to upsetting world issues, but essentially they are about honouring the creatures and wild spaces that are often overlooked or disregarded in the pursuit of human progress. Through her ongoing use of a playful visual language, Gustafsson encourages viewers to quietly unpack the messages housed within these keepsakes of nature. In these non-spaces she has created, these emptied sites of meditation and reflection, viewers are invited to consider what we hold dear, and, as we strive for a more sustainable future, to think about the impact of our choices on the world around us.
ARTIST PROFILE: Having previously worked in film and television and as a graphic designer Gustafsson’s shift toward working as a professional artist has seen her exhibit both nationally and internationally, and be announced as a finalist in the in Lethbridge 20,000 Small Scale Art Award (2023), the Kennedy Prize (2023, 2021, 2018), STILL: National Still Life Award (2023), the Hurford Hardwood Portrait Prize (2018), Percival Tucker Portrait Prize (2018), the Black Swan Prize (2018), the Eutick Memorial Still Life Award (2018), the Metro 5 Art Award (2007), the John Leslie Art Award (2008), the ANL Maritime Art Prize (2009) and winner of Linden Postcard Show in 2010.
