A flock of Black Cockatoos takes flight across towering rock faces into a vast sky. Halcyon Song (2024) captures West's experience of the Nitmiluk National Park, and her 63 km trek across Jatbula Trail through Jawoyn Coutry. The work's title 'Halcyon' has dual meanings. It is used to describe Kingfishers but also an idyllic time passed. This is an insightful entry into West's work. Rather than being exact reproductions of landscapes, West's prints are assembled like collages. Layered upon one another, each visual motif is pieced together to create the overall composition.

Peta West is a practicing contemporary Australian printmaker whose work taps into the sublimity of the Australian landscape and diversity of life it supports. Working primarily with linoleum, West is renowned for her immersive large-scale prints that beguile audiences with their intricate detailing and depth. West's prints are worlds unto their own, each a self-contained universe, where plants and animals appear in abundance.

Prior to printmaking, West was a photographer for over two decades, a medium which allowed her to develop an eye for composition, depth and balance. This initial training in darkrooms forever instilled in her a love for monochrome, as well as the tactile process of working an image out of a medium.

*Please note artwork will not be shipped until after the 2024 Finalist Exhibition which ends in mid-October 2024.