Intaglio Printmaker Prize Winner: Julie Belle Bishop

Statement about Grounded | Handsfree

‘We are made of stardust, and rightly we have a fascination with space travel: how far into the universe can we go? What is out there? This idea excites me, and yet this idea seems profoundly ironic. 

Our modern-day lives often prevent us from touching the planet that we’re already on. We can go for weeks, even longer, without ever making contact with our own planet. We are protected by buildings, vehicles, sidewalks, shoes, and socks. At the same time, we are pushing the limits of human ingenuity to leave this planet and travel into space. What happens when we get there? 

We cannot touch anything. The “Grounded” series represents this tension of striving to leave a planet that we seldom touch, whilst travelling to a place that we can never touch.