Pressure makes diamonds.
This is both a simple fact, and an unavoidable concept that separates the good from the great.
The emotional pressure experienced by Tiffany Titshall has created diamonds.
“This has been quite an emotional year, with extreme highs and lows, and I feel as though that comes out in the art,” Ms Titshall shared.
Walking through the old, decrepit structure of the George Farmer Building, Ms Titshall explained her inspirations behind each of her 14 charcoal paper artworks in an exhibition, titled ‘VOIR’.
“Many of the images came from my recent trip to Portugal,”
While in Portugal, Ms Titshall was caught in the catastrophic bushfires that ravaged the country around the town of Pedrogao Grande and killed 69 people.
She used these images, and the emotional rollercoaster that the event stirred within her as inspiration to create these new, vibrant but atmospheric pieces.
Working usually with muted colours and a more monotone palate, her new works project a raw intensity through the use of bright reds and blues.
“The decision to use brighter colours came naturally, as I felt that they were needed to express the intensity of what I was feeling.
“These were feelings of fear, and facing your deepest fears; feelings about dreams and the underworld, and how they fight with life, and the waking world around us.”
However, Ms Titshall doesn’t feel as though her art needs to be explained, rather it needs to be experienced.
“As much as I can tell you about these, you may not experience the same as I when looking at them, they could stir completely different emotions within you, so you need to experience them individually.”
The experience of being able to be featured in BOAA has been a terrific one for Ms Titshall she says.
“The response from the public has been very good, BOAA is an amazing opportunity for both myself and other Australian artists to be able to go on display to the public in such a large manner.
“It’s phenomenal, when I first heard of it I thought “they’re crazy, it would be impossible” but to see something so ambitious come together has been great, and Ballarat is really the perfect place to have an event like this.”
‘VOIR’ is on display at the George Farmer Building, 328 Eureka Street, Ballarat, from 10am until 5pm daily.
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