Gabby Sutherland
‘Growth and Decay'
2021
Photo montage pastel drawing
$900
Growth and Decay was inspired by the flotsam and jetsam found on the beach and the parallel with the life of friendships and relationships, that come and go from one’s life. The remains of what was once life under the sea, becomes the grains of sand, eventually making up the beach, as though all of our friendships merge together, making up our collective experiences of bygone relationships.
Gabby Sutherland
‘Morphine'
Nauru Series
2020
Photo montage pastel drawing.
SOLD / Not for Sale
Morphine has transformed through many stages over a six year period. It began with a adding wings to a photograph of Mehdi Ali, an Iranian refugee child, incarcerated on Nauru, by the Australian government, taken by his teacher Gabby Sutherland. The shards of rain and the storm became more volatile and torrential as the years of Mehdi’s incarceration rolled on to a nine year period. The self immolation of Mehdi’s friend, tortured Mehdi’s mind and the wings became the fire of death. This was a constant worry for Gabby, fearing that Mehdi would be pushed to do the same.
Twenty-nine unaccompanied minors were sent to Nauru in 2013 by Scott Morrison (Australia's Prime Minister), who was their official guardian and the then Minister of Immigration. They were the first to be given refugee status on the island and even though most were underage, they were put into communal accommodation together and expected to fend for themselves. Teachers would often risk banishment from the island to support them when they were assaulted or robbed. Gabby was one of their teachers, first meeting Mehdi Ali in 2014. After surviving a traumatic medical evacuation from Nauru and nine grueling years of detention, in March 2022, Mehdi was resettled in the US. Mehdi is an artist, a musician, and a gentle soul. Gabby and Mehdi have kept in touch. Mehdi's story was propelled into the global media when he became the courageous spokesperson for the refugees detained in the Park Hotel, who were also locked up with famous tennis player Novak Djokovic
Gabby Sutherland
‘Plastic Bottle Creek'
Nauru Series.
2020.
Photo montage pastel drawing.
In 2013 - 2018, an estimated 35,000 - 60,000 Australian and Fijian made plastic water bottles, were imported into Nauru, each week, by the Australian Government, paid for by the Australian taxpayer. Toxic chemicals leached into the water bottles when the Fijian made bottles melted in the scorching heat. Nauru’s only water reservoir has been contaminated by mining. Consequently, Nauru has no natural potable water. People seeking asylum detained in the camp were not permitted to have water bottles. Despite having access to an abundance of rocks, security guards claimed they would use the water bottles as projectiles. Once people moved out of the mouldy camp, into the refugee compounds, they had to buy their own bottled water at exorbitant prices.
Gabby Sutherland
‘Sewerage'
Nauru Series.
2020.
Photo montage pastel drawing.
SOLD / Not for sale
Gabby’s drawing ‘Sewerage’, aptly named to hint at the ugliness, is a legacy, social commentary, and her response to Australia’s secret humanitarian crisis. After bearing witness to the atrocities, she saw whilst working as a specialist art and design technology teacher, with the children seeking asylum, sent to Nauru by the Australian government, she risked prison and secretly photographed inside the high security prison, to expose the truth. Sewerage is inspired by one of her historically significant, viral photographs, of children walking through the putrid, effluent flooded, plastic tent, detention camp.
The drawing is dynamic, colourful, beautiful, and seemingly innocuous. The sinister subject matter is morphed, buried underneath the added layers of sheltering umbrellas, globally symbolic of protesting. The ugliness can no longer be seen by the unobservant eye. It remains there, secretly embedded into the drawing, manipulated into something tantalizing, and not so easy to look away, once understood.
Gabby Sutherland
‘Nine Forced Abortions'
Nauru Series.
2020
Photo montage pastel drawing.
SOLD /Not for sale
A photo I took of an old, discarded car, the old, discarded phosphate mine and a rotting stadium on Nauru, combined, merged together, was the image I created to depict how I felt the world responded to nine women forced to undergo chemical abortions on Nauru. Carefully placed in the centre sits a photograph of Ellie Shakiba's painting also about abortions. called 'Nameless'. It seemed that no one wanted to tell their story because it was "Too sickening" (media response). It seemed that these women were discarded and left to rot in their own trauma and pain. I spent hours chatting to a young woman after she delivered her aborted angel baby. I read hundreds of pages of her medical records where a female doctor on Nauru told her baby was not going to survive, with no testing equipment to make that assessment, therefore insisting on this medical intervention. I wept as I read the psychology reports from the aftermath.
Gabby Sutherland
‘Sticks and Stones Broke Their Bones and No Names Really Hurt Them'
Nauru Series
2020
Photo montage pastel drawing.
SOLD / Not for sale
This drawing is inspired by a snapshot of a video Gabby took with a spy camera, that has be used in several documentaries and by the media, of children playing on a dirt mound in the detention camp on Nauru. In the foreground is a disturbing image of an older child, mindlessly carving out the ground with a stick, around the rock on which he is perched. This later developed into a contagion suffered by most children, that doctors called 'resignation syndrome'.
Discarded rocks from the phosphate mine were crushed into sharp, stones and dumped in a thick, deep layer over the entire detention camp. The sound of walking on the stones was tormenting. Walking and running on the stones was destabilising and caused injuries.
Parents on Nauru were terrified to let their children play in the high security detention camp because a broken arm or a broken leg either went untreated or ended in a deformity. Gabby took photographs of a child with a broken arm and listened to his mother sob uncontrollably as she held his tiny deformed arm in her hands.
ID tags were worn around adults and children’s neck. They were expected to refer to themselves as their boat ID number when communicating with security. It was an inhumane attempt to dehumanise by denying people their name and identity.
The purple roses hidden in the sky and the rocks are a symbol of hope and happiness, connected to the Red Rose Cafe, started by the children in Gabby's class at the Save the Children school.
Offshore, indefinite detention is dangerous, inhumane, and a breeding ground for people to suffered torture and trauma. Some are still on Nauru and Manus today. Some children were detained for nine years. All this unnecessarily inflicted on them by the Australian Government to win elections by claiming to 'stop the boats'. But there was always hope. Let images like this and the human stories that go hand in hand, be a reminder to never let this happen again.
Gabby Sutherland
Flinder’s Rangers / The First Nation’s Adnyamathanha people’s land
When making glass beads I find inspiration from my explorations of Australia. The vibrant colors of the rugged outback, the serene blues of the coastal waters, and the intricate details of the native flora and fauna fuel my creative spirit. With each delicate movement, as I shape the molten glass, I allow my mind to be immersed into the essence of the rolling hills, the expansive skies, and intricate patterns found in nature, nothing else matters and for a brief moment in time the world is calm and peaceful. The mesmerizing and trans-formative qualities of glass lampwork not only allow me to express my creativity but also offer a profound sense of tranquility and connection to the inherent beauty of the Australian landscape
Gabby Sutherland
‘The Lost City, Savannah Way NT’
When making glass beads I find inspiration from my explorations of Australia. The vibrant colors of the rugged outback, the serene blues of the coastal waters, and the intricate details of the native flora and fauna fuel my creative spirit. With each delicate movement, as I shape the molten glass, I allow my mind to be immersed into the essence of the rolling hills, the expansive skies, and intricate patterns found in nature, nothing else matters and for a brief moment in time the world is calm and peaceful. The mesmerizing and trans-formative qualities of glass lampwork not only allow me to express my creativity but also offer a profound sense of tranquility and connection to the inherent beauty of the Australian landscape
Gabby Sutherland
‘Whaler’s Way, South Australia’
When making glass beads I find inspiration from my explorations of Australia. The vibrant colors of the rugged outback, the serene blues of the coastal waters, and the intricate details of the native flora and fauna fuel my creative spirit. With each delicate movement, as I shape the molten glass, I allow my mind to be immersed into the essence of the rolling hills, the expansive skies, and intricate patterns found in nature, nothing else matters and for a brief moment in time the world is calm and peaceful. The mesmerizing and trans-formative qualities of glass lampwork not only allow me to express my creativity but also offer a profound sense of tranquility and connection to the inherent beauty of the Australian landscape
Gabby Sutherland
‘Noosa Heads, ’
When making glass beads I find inspiration from my explorations of Australia. The vibrant colors of the rugged outback, the serene blues of the coastal waters, and the intricate details of the native flora and fauna fuel my creative spirit. With each delicate movement, as I shape the molten glass, I allow my mind to be immersed into the essence of the rolling hills, the expansive skies, and intricate patterns found in nature, nothing else matters and for a brief moment in time the world is calm and peaceful. The mesmerizing and trans-formative qualities of glass lampwork not only allow me to express my creativity but also offer a profound sense of tranquility and connection to the inherent beauty of the Australian landscape
Gabby Sutherland
‘Weyba Creek, QLD’
When making glass beads I find inspiration from my explorations of Australia. The vibrant colors of the rugged outback, the serene blues of the coastal waters, and the intricate details of the native flora and fauna fuel my creative spirit. With each delicate movement, as I shape the molten glass, I allow my mind to be immersed into the essence of the rolling hills, the expansive skies, and intricate patterns found in nature, nothing else matters and for a brief moment in time the world is calm and peaceful. The mesmerizing and trans-formative qualities of glass lampwork not only allow me to express my creativity but also offer a profound sense of tranquility and connection to the inherent beauty of the Australian landscape
Gabby Sutherland
Gabby begins her drawings and paintings by digitally montaging photographs she has taken, transforming, manipulating, and dousing them with colour. The secret subject matter is woven and buried underneath the beauty of the layers of pastel drawing or paint she adds to the printed surface. The subject matter can no longer be instantly seen by the unobservant eye, but it remains there, embedded into her drawings, and manipulated into something beautiful, something dynamic and tantalizing; something soft and easy to look at. The drawings are aptly named to hint at the seemingly innocuous, yet troubling subject matter sitting below the surface, warning her audience not to be tricked into looking.
Gabby’s lifetime of involvement in the human rights arena has intersected with her creative endeavours, eventually leading her to defend people’s rights to tell their story, in words and in images, no matter how hard it may be to hear and see. We all have a story to tell. We humanize, build resilience, and expand our circle of awareness and understanding through storytelling and story absorbing. This culmination of thought and experience has led to the establishment of Sonder Studio Gallery, of which Gabby is the Founding Director.