For Thematic Mapping, New Zealand-born Williamson unpacks the personal anxieties and sense of dislocation that has reverberated in the wake of the caustic series of earthquakes that have struck her hometown of Christchurch since 2020. Through her experience of sudden loss at such a scale and in re-establishing her home in a new country, the artist has turned to consider the anatomy of birds, doubling as a symbol for migration patterns and fragmentation, as well as one of consolation and hope.
George has produced a raw and reactionary exploration of the notions surrounding struggle, as informed by personal familial narratives and the methodologies typical within her own practice. Central to this practice are the processes
of documenting, building, destruction and rematerialisation. In burning and breaking down old artworks to make papier-mâché, George consolidates several earlier independent series of drawing, painting and sculptural works to build tangible new forms. Together, paired with a time-based blu-tac installation, these traces offer an overview of the artist’s recent practice and family histories, whilst probing at the transformative potential within all matter.
