The EVOLVE series represents a shift away from portraiture to something more psychologically explorative. Drawing on the experiences of my refugee father, as well as my own experience of migration, the paintings layer soil, sand and photographs beneath the paint to provide textures of place, memory and time. Human/avian hybrids frequently appear, reflecting a preoccupation with ideas of flight, freedom, exile and transformation. These works are heavy with the weight of our collective history, and ask what it means to be Australian today.