Pink, a hue that blooms in quiet spaces.

One in the cradle of life’s embrace,

The other where earth and sky trace.

Both wear their pink like tender dreams,

Silent but full of whispered schemes,

Nurturing life in their own way,

One for tomorrow, one for today.

‘Sacred Spaces’ pays homage to two natural, mystifying bodies, the womb and pink salt lakes. In their shared essence both are sacred spaces. Nurturing and life-giving, tinged with hues of pink representing fertility, quiet power and the mysterious forces that sustain life in different forms.

The pink hue in the womb symbolizes the inception of life, a sacred space where new beings are formed. Pink salt lakes, with their surreal color, symbolise the mysterious process of nature’s creation—formed through unique biological and chemical phenomena. Both represent beginnings, one of life and the other of natural wonders.

In the womb, pink signifies warmth, nourishment, and protection, a safe haven for growth. Pink salt lakes, often rich in minerals, symbolise sustenance, nurturing ecosystems and reminding us of nature's life-giving properties.

The pink in both bodies holds a mystical quality. The womb is a hidden, sacred space, the origin of life itself, while pink lakes evoke a sense of otherworldly beauty and wonder. In both spaces, with their pink hue, they share a deep, symbolic resonance as cradles of life, mystery, beauty and quiet power.

Their unusual color is a reminder of nature's secret, sacred processes.

Angela Mezzatesta is an emerging artist from Naarm-Melbourne who graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Art with Distinction at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 2023. Her artistic approach is rooted in a deep connection with the natural world where she bridges the realms of painting and installation. She works with a range of mediums, including foraged earth pigments and plant matter, transforming these raw materials through intuitive staining techniques that reflect the unpredictable beauty of nature.

Her work delves into the intersections of ecology, female health, and sustainability, exploring the profound connections between land, body, and environment. Inspired by the organic forms of natural land structures—such as strata, waterways, and mineral layers—Angela reimagines these formations to echo the intricate patterns of female anatomy. Through this, she draws parallels between the cycles of nature and the inner workings of the human body, celebrating the resilience, vulnerability and beauty inherent in both.

Angela’s work has been recognised with several prestigious awards, including the Vice-Chancellor’s Academic Excellence Award from RMIT, the Chapman and Bailey Painting Award, the Julia Ciccarone Highly Commended Painting Award, and second place in the Fortyfivedownstairs Emerging Artists Award.

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Caitlin Rigby’s practice invites a visual immersion into abstract landscapes expressed through a distinctive and limited palette of deep blue hues. Her paintings' symbolism of archways, night-scapes and open horizons are washed over, layered and diluted to offer suggestions of gestural forms. Within the transparent materiality of paint, the viewer is balanced on the edge of departing reality and slipping into abstraction. Inspired by intuitive painting methods and the dialogue between subject and medium, Rigby invites contemplation into our own wordless and silent inner terrain.

Caitlin Rigby is currently based in Melbourne, Australia. She is the2022 recipient of the Chapman & Bailey Award for Excellence inContemporary Painting.

Caitlin was awarded a place on the Vice-Chancellor's List for Academic Excellence in2023 with RMIT University. In 2018, Caitlin was invited to study abroad with Parsons Fine Art at The New School in NewYork City as part of her RMIT Fine Art Bachelor Degree. She has been awarded two Scholarly Awards for Excellence in 2012 at the Academy ofDesign School, (now LCI Melbourne). Her work is held in private collections throughout Australia and New Zealand. 

Susan Peters is a contemporary artist of the Walmajarri people (Tanami desert of South East Kimberleys, Western Australia)who currently lives in Townsville. She comes from a family of painters. Her Indigenous culture is often reflected in contemporaneous pictorials of bush plants, foods, medicine and native ecology. Through her wider art practice she experiments with a range of art media and traditions ranging from painting to printmaking.

"I was born on Argyle station in 1963 near the banks of the Behn River, and I lived there with my family for four years. My family worked as jackaroos, stockmen, camp cooks, yard builders, and fencers. As time passed in 1970 the Ord river scheme came to be, and my family was trucked back to the desert. I was removed from mymother and travelled to Queensland with my father, sister, and carer mother. I am a descendant of Walmajarri and Ngarti People (Yagga Yagga Way) who hold ancient stories, Waljirri (dreamtime) ceremonies, and oral history of families living around Paruku (Lake Gregory).

The central focus of my art practice is a personal reflection about family, Country, community, oral histories, survival, and traditional lifestyles (traditional foods, medicines). The diverse countryside, waterways, and sand hills are depicted through the use of bright colours, and varying shades of purple, blue, greens, yellows and reds. My works are contemporary, and sometimes include the use of traditional symbols and traditional ochres. I often use other mediums as an extension of my art practice, including inks on fabrics, and natural bush materials, such as seeds, pandanus leaves, and grasses to make baskets."

Over the last few years Susan has been working with hessian and ochre (moving away from canvas). Exhibiting with Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts in the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF)in 2021, Susan won the CIAF Award for Innovation for this new development in her practice.

This body ofwork expands on a poem I wrote, which grieved and celebrated a friend whopassed earlier this year. In the transition of letting go, I held on to thecolour yellow, which became an inquiry point for me to explore themes of decayand vitality. In the process of making these works, I reflected on our memoriestogether, continuing our conversations through art-making. These works arededicated to Jennifer Tanner, a caring, creative, gentle, guiding force in mylife.

UmaChristensen is an emerging artist working in Naarm (Melbourne). She haspreviously completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting) at RMIT. Uma’s subjectmatter focuses on ideas of nature and culture iterated through multi-mediaforms; textiles, natural dyes, painting and video. Her work often attempts todemonstrate the entanglement between human and non-human species. Drawinginspiration from her bodily embedment in the ecological/plant world, evoking asense of uncanny and intimacy in her works.

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Michelle Yuan Fitz-Gerald is an artist and performer working on Wurundjeri land. She takes a trauma informed approach to transmuting her lived experiences through her multidisciplinary practice. Opting for tenderness over violence, she gently interrogates systemic oppression on institutional, professional, and personal levels in relation to race, culture, and gender. She has recently begun to find comfort in reconnecting with the water.