Counterpoise with Hanna Kay @ Singleton Arts + Cultural Centre

Counterpoise is a collection of artworks inspired by the natural surroundings in which I live, highlighting the confluence of forces that shape a place’s unique character. My work does not dwell on grand vistas but instead on the subtle, the overlooked, and the nearly invisible.

The focus rests on two primary elements—grasses and rocks—whose ubiquitous presence makes them part of our shared visual experience. These elements are never static; they exist in constant motion, embodying natural cycles of growth, decay, and regeneration. Together, grasses and rocks mirror these cycles, reminding me that both the fragile and the seemingly unyielding are bound to the processes of transformation.

Although both grasses and rocks carry symbolic meanings across cultures and throughout history, my attraction to them is, first and foremost, aesthetic. Grasses captivate me through their forms, rhythms, and flow. Their repetition has become both meditative to paint and satisfying to contemplate, creating an internal rhythm within the artwork itself.

Stones and rocks, by contrast, embody for me the circularity of nature. They symbolise the movement between whole and fragment, between shaping and being shaped—a quiet tension between solidity and dissolution. Fragments settle into dry landscapes or slip into water, giving rise to ripples, splashes, or waves. Mist and dust swirl through these scenes, carrying a sense of unease but also soft resilience—like a rock slowly weathering into sand.

In this interplay of the ephemeral and the enduring, I find the counterpoise that lends both the landscape and these works their quiet drama.

Hanna Kay, Impact 2. Oil on Linen. 150 x 130cm. © Hanna Kay. Image courtesy of Hanna Kay

Hanna Kay, Shibboleth B. Oil and Tempera on Linen. 100 x 200cm. © Hanna Kay. Image courtesy of Hanna Kay