Let me tell you about how I followed a very old dream to move to Australia and have an art exhibition.  

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It's 2016. My good friend Wes and I had graduated from four intensive years of study. What was next though? We actively pondered this together when he introduced me to the idea of an artist residency. There were so many resources about finding one, but they often involved expected results, rigid timeframes, specific arrangements, supervision, sometimes heavy costs.

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What if I could just structure my own, I began to think, in a new place, with a new community?

Flash forward years later, cobbling together my savings, and learning about working holiday visas abroad with Australia on the list.

 

I vetted my travel based on places with a thriving arts community. With Melbourne, Hobart, Brisbane, all recommended to me, perhaps I would start there. Though halfway through my endeavours in Hobart and almost signing a studio contract, I got a call from a friend I had met in New Zealand.

 

"I'm flying to Adelaide for a wedding. If you happen to be free, maybe we could meet up?" It was a long stretch, as my friend knew. I was in Tasmania. Two flights away. But I felt called. 

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I flew to Adelaide and within a week, I had found a studio at a space called The Rundle Collective, connected with a kind art community, met my partner to be, and realised this was the place. 

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Housing and work did not come so easily, but the pillars were there. I started a schedule for my studio hours. I began meeting members in the collective, and as they began to open up, they would gift me with insights and materials.  

I felt so welcomed, so loved, and I felt compelled to create work with this feeling.

When a gallery opening emerged at the studio, and my submission was accepted, I had to determine:  

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What story can I tell in only eight months?

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At that point, I had completed a painting, and I had proposed to have a show with over 15 works of art. 

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Overflowing gratitude came to me. The resounding message being that when you dream and be with love, that love expands. Coming to Australia to focus on something I LOVE,  and to be received with love, I thought:

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How can I create an experience that feels like love embodied, that encourages us all to follow and move and be with love?

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This is the story of the show :

Thank You for Being Love TY4BL

A collection of works celebrating love in its many infinite forms.

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Thanks for reading this, and

Thank you for being love. 

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Cami

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