Statement
Shenade grew up oceanside and fell in love with clever coastal vegetation. She marvels at the simple symbiotic relationship of Peasholm’s (her family’s favourite beach) dunes and the Hairy Spinifex ¬– a ‘boring’ weed to many (if noticed at all). She loves its languid but solid presence, its spiky form and hairy texture. The Hairy Spinifex hangs and drapes over the entire scene, at home with the ocean and the walker and his dog. Its appearance in the clouds too hopefully elevates its mundane (to some) status, and gives it (and the work) an otherworldly presence. Shenade made many tiny decisions. Colour and light manipulated. The same section of Hairy Spinifex has been layered and flipped to showcase its wondrous form and lines. The doubled Spinifex layers that sit just aside from each other create an eerie confusion when studied; organic form is distorted into the artificial, causing the observer to question the reality of the work.
Western Australian photographer and contemporary artist Shenade is a digital landscape designer. She photographs suburban, urban, botanical and natural landscapes and then transforms them into virtual realities through digital manipulation. Shenade adores the process of creation, carefully freestyling each alteration to abstract and elevate the core—usually ordinary and commonplace—image. Layering and blending; flipping and mirroring; warping colours and light; adding geometric patterns and shapes — all help create her unique style. As fragments of one image cross the path of another, new micro and macro worlds come into play that didn't exist before.She wants the observer to pause and wonder what’s actually happening, to be confused about what’s real and what’s not. She is energised when new patterns, lines, shapes, colours, spaces, possibilities and feelings emerge. Dada, surrealism, dreams, meditation, quantum physics and transcendental experiences are influences. Shenade was a finalist in the 2019 City of Stirling Art Awards; won the 2019 Beaufort Street Network Art Prize; was part of PCP’s Collective in 2016, 2019 and 2020; was a finalist in the York Botanic Art Prize in 2020; a finalist in the 2020 City of Stirling Blink Photography Awards; and a finalist in the 2021 City of Stirling Art Awards.