Under the Weather the Storm - Jarrad Martyn

Under the Weather the Storm

This project consists of a series of paintings that explore humanity’s relationship with the natural environment. Drawing inspiration from his father's photo album—documenting his time working as a helicopter pilot in Antarctica in 1985 - artist Martyn is particularly interested in how the meaning of these photographs, and the archive as a whole, evolves over time. The images of Antarctica carry dual significance: they are both sentimental and political. On the one hand, they reflect an emotional connection to the innocent, holiday-like snapshots of Martyn’s father. In the present, however, these photographs reveal new political and environmental issues. Over time, the collective public memory of ‘Antarctica’ has become intrinsically linked to contemporary conversations about climate change and a range of environmental concerns.

From an archive of approximately 150 photographs, Martyn was most drawn to the images that highlight the otherworldly and—at the time—rare and unique experience of being in Antarctica. Realised as a set of recurring motifs, these images depict workers and human-made structures embedded in the landscape, such as glaciologists measuring the terrain, scientific research machinery, and interactions between workers and the region’s flora and fauna. These photographs frequently convey a sense of symbiosis between human activity and the natural world.

The paintings are developed through initial drawings and digital collages composed of both archival and found contemporary material. Legacy is visualised by blurring the boundaries between figuration and abstraction, resulting in a visual ‘state of flux’. This approach is intended to encourage the imagery to foster new associations by creating more ‘Thinking Time’, engaging the viewer for longer periods. The concepts of ‘Thinking Time’, legacy, and memory are deeply intertwined. Legacy refers to the way personal experiences can evoke memories from different times or places, while memory is the act of storing and retaining an experience. It is the ongoing process of revisiting and reinterpreting those memories that shape legacy over time.

In producing a ‘state of flux’, careful attention is given to the relationship between rational and irrational painting languages. In The Art of Not Describing: Vermeer – The Detail and the Patch (1989), Georges Didi-Huberman outlines the distinction between these languages, describing it as a relationship between “the surface of the world” and the “representing surface.” For this project, Martyn’s aim was to interpret and present spaces that appear fractured or caught in a state of collapse. To facilitate abstraction, small sections and detailed images of painting textures from earlier works, quick materiality studies, and lighting effects were incorporated and overlaid onto the original photographs. These textures consist of fluid marks made with squeegees and brushes, later photographed and digitally manipulated.

The fragmented landscapes are further disrupted through the inclusion of collaged motifs sourced from various contexts and historical periods, heightening the sense of dislocation and ambiguity. These formal choices are intended to engage the viewer over extended durations, encouraging shifts between different modes of perception and understanding—between looking and thinking—about the evolving relationship between humanity and the environment. The work invites new conversations and modes of meaning-making, grounded in reflection on the past, present, and future.

Martyn has been awarded in various national art prizes, most notably winning the John Stringer Art Prize (2018), the City of Joondalup Community Invitation Art Award Overall Acquisitive Award (2017), the Fifty Squared Art Prize (2021), the Mayor's Award for the Nillumbik Prize for Contemporary Art (2023), and the People’s Choice Award for the John Leslie Art Prize (2024). He has also been a finalist in a wide selection of awards, commissions, and grants, including exhibiting at the Frost Museum of Science as part of Art Basel Miami (2023). This will be his eleventh solo exhibition.