Manifesto

Being present in the moment and contributing to society has never escaped me, leading my practice toward making social commentary or statements on issues that affect my personal environment, life or have a profound impact on my personal philosophy.

The last 14 years my work has been centred around the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray River and the water issues. The landscape continues to change, through the effects of human intervention and natural droughts so the content of work is one of constant flux. In the height of the devastation my work was peppered with politically based statements, I became more more focused on portraying what was. In the flux redirection of my focus in my documentation moved to include portraiture of First Australians in this area and toward the migratory birds and breeding fish.

Now my focus is back on pushing for the Murray Darling Basin Plan to insure our future generations have sustainable safe drinking water .

Within in this time I have also created works focused on other issues that are of grave concern to me such as mental health, substance abuse, child neglect, and malaria in the hope of creating new discourse in these areas.

My practice consists of painting, sculpture, prints, ephemeral instillations, found object, dirt/earth works and video and graffiti instillations. In the near future I intend to include public sculptures and possibly documentaries. I feel it necessary to my practice to use the most appropriate materials to create my works and try to give each piece it’s own authenticity.

As a contributing member of society and as an artist I strongly believe one voice, can inspire a collective and become a formidable force.

Rosa Merlino