Welcome to the July monoseum exhibition. My name's Jennifer Oishi and I'm a multidisciplinary visual artist living in the Byron Shire on Bundjalung Country. I was born and raised in Sydney and I moved here over 25 years ago with my two young daughters. I now live and create with my second husband in Ewingsdale. It's a very creative household.

My art practice began when I took art at school as an elective and tried to bring it into as many other subjects as I could, illustrating covers and books. I was always drawn to art throughout school, but I abandoned pursuing it after school because I knew I'd have to attend university or art school, and I wasn't prepared to do that at the time. In the intervening years, I took short courses, starting with a photography course when I was 17 and working in the film and television industry. The course required a 35mm fully manual camera, which was a big purchase for me at the time, but I'm glad I did it. I still have that camera.

I also did weekend art workshops, a few terms of a painting course, and life drawing classes. In 2019, I discovered the Byron School of Art in Mullumbimby and immediately enrolled. I did two years, took a year off, and then returned in 2022 to graduate. You could say my art practice has had a very slow burn. Over the last three years, I've exhibited and sold work in a group show at Lone Goat Gallery in Byron and a solo show at Gallery 3 in Byron Bay, where I exhibited oil paintings on canvas, cyanotypes, and a stop video.

I've also had work in various artist callouts from different galleries, and now I'm exhibiting at the monoseum, which is my first photographic exhibition. Currently, I have four small works in the 10x10 micro exhibition at Station Street Co-op in Bangalow, which will be on display until July 5th. I also have a commission for a very large painting, the largest I've ever attempted, which I'm about to start working on. I work in my studio, which is attached to my house, and my husband has a dark room in our house, so everything is close at hand.

This piece is a selenium-toned silver gelatin print on cotton rag paper, taken with a Nikon FE2 on standard black and white film. My husband printed it. The photo was part of a series I did on a camping trip to Baldrock National Park, near Tenterfield in the Great Dividing Range. The park is on the traditional land of the Jukumbul, Bundjalung, and Kamilaroi, who used to meet and travel through the area. Bald Rock is a half-buried monolithic rock, similar to Ayers Rock, surrounded by big boulders, granite boulders, and a unique landscape.

I like to play with light, shadow, and focus in my photography. Most of the shots I took that day were about tweaking those elements, but I got the idea to take a singular shot of an individual granite boulder. It was challenging to find one that was isolated, but I found one at the top of the rock and had to go off the main path to get a good shot. I wanted to capture the curvature of the base of the boulder to show its precariousness and the crowning clouds and sky beyond. I aimed to inspire awe and respect for this ancient landscape and emphasize the importance of protecting our earth.

This piece fits into my art practice as part of a series of Bald Rock photographs. I do nature photography, landscapes, and other things, like decaying nature, leaf skeletons, and bushfire-affected landscapes. Photography informs most of my other artwork as well. I've had my original camera since I was 17, but it doesn't work anymore. I've used other cameras and my iPhone, but I received a Nikon camera as a gift a couple of years ago, which allows for more creative photography, like double exposures and intentional camera movement.

One piece of advice I'd give to someone beginning their art practice is to take courses, go back to art school, or do short courses to meet teachers, other students, and artists. This can get you into the local art scene, help you find out about galleries, and lead to friendships and opportunities. I've been asked to choose a song to go with my artwork, and I originally considered calling my photograph "Precarious." However, given that the boulder has been sitting on top of the rock for over 220 million years, I decided on the title "Balance" instead.

I was also toying with the title "The Unbearable Lightness of Being," which is the name of a movie, so I chose a song from the soundtrack, "The Holy Virgin of Freydek." It's an instrumental song with heavy and light tones that I think complements my work well. Thank you very much.