[Some] Green Bottles is a collection of works-in-progress, in acrylics and oils, featuring a single green glass carafe.
Seemingly a trivial object, it sat in the fridge door of my childhood home holding my dad's wine. It's now in my fridge, filled with water.
My dad was the stoic and sensitive type, but didn't reveal much of his inner life to me, or possibly anyone else. He was Catholic, but couldn’t explain his belief to me, only that he was raised that way; he loved the Balmain Tigers; he was sporty—he had a stint playing AFL, windsurfed, golfed, played water polo, and regualrly swam in the local harbour baths; we reckoned he was lucky—often winning meat trays at the raffle; he was a great story teller; and was kind to animals. He also bottled up emotions and he bottled up his true thoughts. He only became more direct in the evenings when he'd had a few glasses of wine and his defences relaxed. As my own kids got older, I realised the hard truth—that we can never truly know the entirety of someone, even those closest to us. Perhaps especially those closest to us. In spite of that, we frequently see them and ourselves in the trivial everyday objects they leave behind when they’ve gone.
There’s also something to be said about the distraction alcohol provides from whatever we’re keeping hidden.
Maybe you’ll consider the meaning in the everyday objects you will leave behind, or reflect on the memories imbued in an object you’ve been left with.
When this collection is completed and curated, it will be renamed with the number of green bottles that will be hanging on the wall.
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