Amber Alcock

Since graduating from the Michaelis School of Fine Art in 2022, receiving both the Simon Gerson and Judy Steinberg awards for painting, Alcock’s surreal work has tended to the idea of unyielding ‘care' in a world of habitual apathy and indifference; using the almost anarchic qualities of fragility, tenderness and conscientiousness as both a delicate weapon of preservation, and a means to battle it.

There are many opposing factors that play important roles in how she has chosen to make images. Art history, the place of the animal within it, the animal and nature in relation to humanity’s greater modes of being, and her own personal sense of helplessness or power are all considered. It is through the faculties of fantasy and surrealism that she intends not to solve, but simply make evident specific ethical, personal, humanitarian and ecological issues that stem from a shortcoming or complete lack of true ‘care'. Alcock is fascinated by the inexplicably large galaxy of relational modes, transfused mythologies and histories that govern our attending of the relationship between humanity, the animal and nature. Through the odd juxtapositions of horror and charm, humour and ominousness, cognisance and obliviousness, she hopes to invoke a new 'wariness" and ‘awareness’.