“Symbiosis” is a visual meditation on connection—those subtle, often invisible relationships that allow life to endure and evolve. Drawing inspiration from the layered textures of wandoo bark, the work translates the tree’s surface into a symbolic landscape of memory, resilience, and renewal.
Warm, earthy tones suggest age, weathering, and experience, while cooler passages and lighter highlights hint at growth, healing, and quiet hope. The flowing, organic lines weave through the composition like roots, veins, and pathways, evoking the constant exchange between what is seen and what is hidden, what is fragile and what is strong.
At the heart of the piece, a cluster of eight ants forms a quiet focal point. They stand for cooperation, collective strength, and the way small, repeated acts—of care, courage, or endurance—can build something far greater than any one individual. The choice of eight is deliberate: a number associated with balance which, when turned on its side, echoes the infinity symbol and the ongoing cycles of life. Their presence anchors the work’s idea of symbiosis: that survival and flourishing depend on shared effort, mutual support, and often-unnoticed labour.
In keeping with my practice of symbolic realism, every shape and shift in colour is deliberate: curves that echo embrace, fissures that recall old wounds, and subtle transitions that speak to the way distinct lives, histories, and habitats lean on one another to survive. “Symbiosis” invites the viewer to look closely—to trace the lines, discover the ants, follow the rhythms, and perhaps recognise something of their own story in the spaces between. It is both a celebration of nature’s intricate design and a reminder that we, too, are part of a vast, interdependent web of relationship and care.
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas
Varnish: 2 Varnish System, Gloss
Size: 24x18 inches (1016x762mm) 1.5 inch (38mm) Edge
Frame: Raw Oak Floating Frame
Size with Frame: 25.5x19.5 Inches (647.7 x 495.3mm) 2.0 inch (53mm) Edge
