In the exhibition ‘Locality’ Zochowski has created a body of work based on her local Illawarra environment. As an artist, Zochowski is interested in investigating methods in order to creatively translate her immediate landscapes. Becoming aware of limitations in photography as a means to reference from, she explores methods to conceive a narrative of a preserved instant in time by examining the surrounding familiar locality and by working directly from the landscape. Along with pencil sketches, Zochowski create watercolours ‘en plein air’ to capture the firsthand sensations. The watercolours are either kept as is, or modified in the studio with the aid of memories of features such as familiar shapes, aspects and colours to create new collaged images.

In the studio Zochowski considers the broader range of prospects that the activity of painting allows for creating personal impressions of the local landscape. The paintings created in the studio are aided by sketches and memory which is further influenced by different sensations. Zochowski investigates the effect of materials and how she uses them as an exploration in order to make an emotional truth or connection with the original moments.  Different brush marks, textures and colours make suggestion to the light and weather conditions or in significance to a certain frame of mind. Applying colour as value and solid or transparent forms, the colours and shapes are necessary expressions of each other. Memories of original features are glorified, reduced or exaggerated to evolve a final larger image on canvas into its own reality.