Ruby Mackenzie's seemingly dark paintings resonate with a surprising heart-warming glow. The playfulness of her trees, birds and landscapes belie a nature rich with the loving concerns of presence and place.

Ruby’s Statement:

The landscape in and around the Western Treatment Plant was the site for this body of paintings. Just west of Melbourne, with 36 kilometres of undeveloped Port Phillip Bay frontage, Werribee Wetlands is one of the most significant bird habitats in Australia, second only to Kakadu for bird diversity.

My experience of this environment, at once a product of human engineering and yet owned by the birdlife who nest and breed there, invoked in me an immediate response of awe, and a desire to portray the delicate and lonely surroundings of the wetlands and coastline.

I was intrigued by the quiet shifting layers and cycles, the soft melodic quietness of the voices of the wildlife, often on a cold wind, and by the surprisingly intense and varied colours of the subtle landscape. These factors combined to draw me into the intense atmosphere of Werribee Wetlands.

Through this work I hope to impart a sense of the fragile beauty of this special habitat that is so closely linked to our everyday life in the city and suburban areas. Experiencing this country has reminded me of the close interplay between people and nature.

Ruby Mackenzie, October 2009