During my art residency in Mexico, I created an opportunity to draw directly onto walls that had stood since the 1600s - older than colonised Australia!
Collecting charcoal collected from firepits in and around the Hacienda, I chose this ephemeral material deliberately—knowing it would wash away with the rainy season. I wasn’t interested in “making my mark” in a permanent sense but instead creating a fleeting social commentary that would disappear after I left. This impermanence aligned with the themes of transcendence, afterlife, and ceremony that I explored in my work.

At the time of the residency, my father was in the hospital and passed away two weeks after I returned home. This deeply personal timing influenced my reflections on the cultural practices surrounding death and ritual in Mexico. I was struck by their reverence and rich traditions in contrast to the comparative absence of ritual around death in Australia. This exploration shaped my use of symbolic imagery and the word “transcendence” within the work, a meditation on the layers of belief and ritual woven into life and death.

The residency also offered space to investigate communication design, power, and subversion in art. Inspired by Mexico's cultural melting pot and rebellious history, I drew on everything from hand-painted signage to archaeological artefacts. Conversations with fellow artists and my own research led me to local rituals involving shamans, where offerings to gods—like a pineapple—are central to the ceremony. I was particularly captivated by syncretic traditions, such as the use of Coca-Cola in Maya-Catholic rituals in San Juan Chamula. In these ceremonies, Coca-Cola is believed to expel evil spirits through burping, blending global consumerism with ancient spirituality. This striking juxtaposition of old and new revealed how cultural rituals adapt to modern influences, becoming tools of both resistance and resilience.

One piece of artwork I created during the residency was a bold depiction of a woman in a wolf’s coat. This image was a response to traditional gender restrictions in rituals, where women were not allowed to wear masks. By placing a woman in the role of a powerful, masked figure, I sought to subvert these norms, reclaiming ritualistic symbolism for gender empowerment. The wolf, often representing strength and instinct, underscored this message. This act of subversion mirrors the essence of street art—challenging power structures and creating dialogue through unexpected and often fleeting mediums.

Inspired by Ai Weiwei’s use of cultural symbols to provoke thought, I aimed to navigate the intersection of impermanence, ritual, and societal commentary. My work reflected the role of street art as a medium for questioning systems of power, offering alternative narratives, and amplifying voices that are often silenced.

This experience has profoundly shaped how I think about art’s role in communicating ideas about identity, mortality, and resistance. It reminded me that art doesn’t need to last forever to leave a meaningful impression. Sometimes, its power lies in its ability to resonate—and then fade, like the rituals and stories that inspired it.