Inspiration can strike at the most odd of times.
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For Amelia Medbury that inspiration for her major work in the 2021 HSC came when she was completing one of her routine chores.
Many artists draw on nature, politics, religion or major life events to draw inspiration, not for Amelia, who while studying at Blayney High School, found it in a most unusual place.
"Late one night I was sitting in the laundry to do my chores and I didn't really want to do them, and thought about leaving them for later," she said.
"Then I began to think about how, in this moment, I'm not really perceived by anyone, there's no expectation to be anyone."
Then I began to think about how, in this moment, I'm not really perceived by anyone, there's no expectation to be anyone.
- Amelia Medbury
From that lightbulb moment she began to explore those moments when the daily chores that are expected of us can be breaks from society.
"Those mindless tasks that you're doing where you don't have to think about all these philosophies, stereotypes and all these boxes that you're put in. You're just doing it."
Her three mixed media self portraits have impressed the judges of the HSC art examination that they have been selected for the prestigious Art Express exhibition at the NSW Art Gallery.
Each work presents Amelia completing various tasks including taking out the rubbish, doing laundry and bathing. Times when the hyperlinked youth of today can gain respite from the demands of the technologies they use.
"It's about stepping back and being able to reflect on your place in the world and how much of an impact everything you do is, and how little impact it has. It's a liberating experience," she said.
Using a mix of high viewpoints to create a sense of vulnerability in two images and a low point of view in the middle work to represent liberation, Amelia used these psycho-emotional tools to help create a conversation between the viewer and the work.
"The perspectives are a tool in creating that narrative about how it's okay in those moments when you don't have people watching you, or examining you, that you can be vulnerable with these thoughts," she said.
Amelia is no stranger to art success, her submission in the 2020 Textures of One won the people's choice category.
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