Judy Rogers’ artwork is at once intimate and universal.
Her upcoming exhibition, ‘Out of the suitcase’ is an autobiographical response to her experience making Western Australia home, as a migrant born in Budapest who moved here in 1995.
She meditates on the thought: “When did I start to state ‘Australia’ when asked, detecting an accent, ‘where are you from?’”
Though the series comprises mostly of deeply personal portraits of close friends and family, Rogers’ exhibition will no doubt appeal to anyone who has had to adopt a more global sense of ‘home’ and ‘family’.
“You can create a whole life out of a suitcase, from a very small amount of possessions, you can start a new life in a new place,” Rogers said.
“My partner is a British man, so we had to decide on our place to live together, and we didn’t want to settle into each other’s countries, so why wouldn’t you come here?”
Rogers already had family living in Australia who moved from Hungary as migrants.
“My sister was a refugee in the 80’s, and she was already here, and some of my other relatives, who in the ‘56 uprising came here.
“In a way it’s quite personal but because i’m a very ordinary person, so probably everybody has a similar experience they can relate to,” she said.
Rogers employs mixed media to add depth to her pieces, working on board and incorporating other found objects and coloured washes into her realistic drawings.
“When you look at the work, it’s very photographic, but then when you come closer you see the structure... It’s onto boards, it’s quite crude, you go away you have this illusion of a photo-realistic work, but when the viewer comes close and gets more intimate with the work, they can see the rougher elements,” Rogers said.
However, every element is very deliberate and skillful, which gives Roger’s work a unified finish.
“I’m not the person who thrives on accidents and lots of experiments, I define the style I want,” she said.
She said her major artistic influences were medieval painters, Renaissance artist Albrecht Durer, as well as the social realism she grew up with in Hungary.
Rogers’ exhibition opens on Friday January 27 at 6.30pm, and will be open to the public until Sunday February 26.
Mandurah Performing Arts Centre’s gallery space is open on Monday-Friday from 10am-5pm, Saturday 10am-4pm, and Sunday 12am-4pm.
