Emma Stuart - Biography

Emma Stuart has a deep sense of connection and love for the Australian Landscape and has chosen to make it the central subject of her painting practice. Whether it’s through the way she captures the dappled colours of first light or the end of a day, or the way she captures tonal streaks across the wayward branches of the Gums she depicts, Stuart imbues a reverential importance into the natural habitats she elevates through painting. With an extraordinary ability to transcribe what she sees what becomes so key is the moment she selects to freeze in a resolved work, emotively they seem warm and kind in the the way that nature is inherently nurturing. In another way Stuart’s landscapes can be seen as part moral metaphor and partly oblivious to our concerns, importantly Stuart’s focus stops us and makes us realise we share and are also a part of the Natural world even if we are mostly caught up with our day to day folly.

In recent years Stuart has created a number of series of works based on various areas around Mparntwe (Alice Springs), including Telegraph Station Walk, Emily Gap, Honey Moon Gap, the Tjoritja (West MacDonnell Ranges), and her most recent body of work Wurrung of the Birrarung (2021) based on Wurundjeriwillam and Wurundjeri Woi Country.