Helena’s arts practice explores the topics of identity and belonging, freedom and restraint, limits and boundaries to confront the complex problematics of our times.  Her work often aims to promote conversations about tricky topics while celebrating the human-social-nature connection.

Reconciliation with our nation and the collective traumas of our past begins with reconciliation within.

Feral Encounters is an ongoing research project that explores the lasting and ever-changing impact of feral animals and plants that were introduced from England to the Central Victorian landscape during early colonisation.

This body of work builds on ideas of migration, performance, and restraint with each plant being harvested during the use of a physical restraint. The restraint forms a static anchor from the artists waist to the ground and the subsequent harvest is collected from everything within reach.

The materials collected from these harvested plants were then turned into plant dyes which were applied directly to raw canvas or used as thinning agents for acrylic paints. In most instances the plant dyes were used in the depiction of the plant from which they were derived, though in the cases of animal depictions an iron mordant (obtained from a rusted billy can found in the goldfields) was added to the plant dye to turn the dye black.