"‘are you going to keep that?’ is a collection of work created as a direct result of the COVID 19 pandemic. It explores limitations on travel and the freedom of movement, and the resulting nostalgia felt for memories, places, and experiences."
‘are you going to keep that?’ is a collection of work created as a direct result of the COVID 19 pandemic. It explores limitations on travel and the freedom of movement, and the resulting nostalgia felt for memories, places, and experiences. The suite of drawings created uses travel ephemera to explore the prescribed memory associated with these items. The viewer is prompted to consider the printed ephemera that they have kept throughout their travels and the importance held within these seemingly inconsequential receipts and random pieces of paper. Bilston began the work in March at the precipice of the global pandemic, using genuine items accumulated throughout the seven months she spent abroad in late 2019 early 2020. This time was equally spent both studying in Dundee, Scotland and travelling around the world; a concept which seems so foreign now that the pandemic has firmly planted itself in everyone’s lives. Choice works are pieces from locations hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, Italy, the US and the UK. The centre piece of the collection is a Qantas plane ticket from Tokyo to Sydney (mid-February 2020), just as the Diamond Princess cruise ship was quarantining in Japan. The work deals with the pandemic becoming a genuine fear, hence the receipt for a German Apotheke from the purchase of an N95 mask(30 January 2020).
Artist Bio
Zoe Anika Bilston is a multimedia contemporary artist with a current focus on print making and drawing. Bilston recently graduated with a Bachelor of Visual Arts in Printmedia and Drawing and will shortly complete her Bachelor of Design. She has exhibited both locally and nationally and was the recipient of multiple awards through the Emerging Artist Support Scheme alongside spending a semester abroad studying in Dundee, Scotland in 2019. Bilston works at the National Gallery of Australia in both finance and exhibition installation while maintaining her personal practice and exploring new creative endeavours. Her current work explores how the onset of the COVID19 pandemic, and the myriad societal shifts it has prompted, are changing the way we think about travel and freedom of mobility.
‘are you going to keep that?’ is a collection of work created as a direct result of the COVID 19 pandemic. It explores limitations on travel and the freedom of movement, and the resulting nostalgia felt for memories, places, and experiences. The suite of drawings created uses travel ephemera to explore the prescribed memory associated with these items. The viewer is prompted to consider the printed ephemera that they have kept throughout their travels and the importance held within these seemingly inconsequential receipts and random pieces of paper. Bilston began the work in March at the precipice of the global pandemic, using genuine items accumulated throughout the seven months she spent abroad in late 2019 early 2020. This time was equally spent both studying in Dundee, Scotland and travelling around the world; a concept which seems so foreign now that the pandemic has firmly planted itself in everyone’s lives. Choice works are pieces from locations hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, Italy, the US and the UK. The centre piece of the collection is a Qantas plane ticket from Tokyo to Sydney (mid-February 2020), just as the Diamond Princess cruise ship was quarantining in Japan. The work deals with the pandemic becoming a genuine fear, hence the receipt for a German Apotheke from the purchase of an N95 mask(30 January 2020).
Artist Bio
Zoe Anika Bilston is a multimedia contemporary artist with a current focus on print making and drawing. Bilston recently graduated with a Bachelor of Visual Arts in Printmedia and Drawing and will shortly complete her Bachelor of Design. She has exhibited both locally and nationally and was the recipient of multiple awards through the Emerging Artist Support Scheme alongside spending a semester abroad studying in Dundee, Scotland in 2019. Bilston works at the National Gallery of Australia in both finance and exhibition installation while maintaining her personal practice and exploring new creative endeavours. Her current work explores how the onset of the COVID19 pandemic, and the myriad societal shifts it has prompted, are changing the way we think about travel and freedom of mobility.
