Protection is a painting that reflects my ongoing inquiry into home, belonging, and the fragile nature of place. Set against the backdrop of Byron Bay—where postcard-perfect imagery coexists with real and growing homelessness—the work focuses on the quiet, often unseen lives of those sleeping rough.
It arose from direct, lived observation in my local environment, where the contrast between comfort and exclusion is stark. Byron’s beauty can mask the presence of deep social inequity; Protection aims to hold that tension—to make visible what is so often erased. Embedded in this is also my own unease—an amplified awareness of housing instability and how precarious the idea of ‘home’ can become, even for those who appear to be safely within it.
Painting allows me to slow down and stay with the image, to explore stillness, sorrow, and resilience in equal measure. The process gives weight to a subject too frequently overlooked, offering space for reflection rather than judgement.
Though grounded in a specific place and moment, Protection gestures outward, linking the local to broader conversations around housing insecurity and human dignity. It does not attempt to document, but to bear witness—to see deeply and insist on the humanity of every subject.
This painting is both a personal response and a wider meditation: Who belongs in a place like this? Who is protected, and who is left outside?
