Memory of the Guardians

92cm x 112cm.
Framed in an ornate silver/gold frame. No glass.

This work is part of an ongoing exploration into the memory of water, the frequency of precious metals, and the role of consciousness in shaping matter.

Beginning with two tablets of pure gold, I placed them beneath a glass tray of shallow fresh Margaret River rainwater. This water, carrying the unique frequency of place, was then frozen capturing an ephemeral moment where the molecular structure responded to the presence of gold beneath it. Influenced by the research of crystallographer Veda Austin and the late Dr. Masaru Emoto, this process operates on the belief that water holds memory, and responds to energy, material, and intention.

The resulting crystalline patterns photographed just before complete freezing were intricate, linear, and directional, resembling both chaos and code. I then translated this moment into a physical artwork using gold and silver leaf, carving and building impasto texture onto the surface. The final form echoes the frozen image, but now re-embedded in gold completing a feedback loop of energy and interpretation.

Gold becomes frequency → Water receives and responds → Ice reveals → Art interprets → and Gold returns, now encoded with the journey.

This is an alchemical work. It is a transmutation of elemental material, environmental influence, and human consciousness into visual language. It is a conversation with gold and one that travels through water, ice, memory, and back again.

Memory of the Guardians is a contemporary invocation — a poetic, textural meditation on presence, memory, and unseen intelligence. Crafted on a surface imbued with personal history (an overpainted work created in response to my mother’s death), this painting explores the resonance between past and present, material and spirit, form and frequency.

At the core of my practice is an alchemical process that merges natural elements with intentional gesture.

By working with elemental materials and crystallography-inspired textures, I continue to push my practice into new territories — blending material sensitivity with metaphysical inquiry.

For this work, I placed two pure 24ct gold tablets beneath a shallow glass dish of fresh Margaret River rainwater. As the water partially froze, I captured the crystalline structures that formed in response to the gold’s energy — a technique informed by contemporary crystallography. This frozen imprint became the blueprint for the painting, translated through layers of carved impasto, silver and gold leaf, and gestural mark-making.

A luminous gold field anchors the composition — a symbolic threshold etched with forms reminiscent of molecular lattices and light language codes. These markings channel both the geometry of water’s intelligence and the subtle presence of ancestral memory. The surface becomes more than an aesthetic gesture; it is a portal — a field of encoded resonance shaped by intention, intuition, and elemental dialogue.

Along the painting’s edge, the silhouette of a guardian emerges — barely visible, dissolving into a veil of silver. Its presence evokes a quiet inquiry: Who watches over memory? What forces, seen or unseen, guide our journey through loss, transformation, and time?

This work engages directly with the energetic and psychological landscapes of the South West — a place where ancient coastlines, weather patterns, and unseen forces converge with human experience. Rather than depicting landscape in a literal sense, the painting offers a sensory and symbolic reading of place. It challenges viewers to consider art as a vessel for remembrance, transmission, and healing.

The result is a deeply contemporary expression rooted in reverence for land, light, and lineage — a voice that resonates beyond the visible.