Fleur Yorston

2 September - 4 November 2015

Visitors to the Ballina Byron Gateway Airport (BBGA) will receive a contemporary take on a traditional islander welcome this September and October. An oversized interpretation of the Hawaiian Lei, by artist Fleur Yorston, will be on display in Northern Rivers Community Gallery’s (NRCG) latest Art at the Airport showcase.

Paradise Found is inspired by the artist’s upbringing in multi-cultural, Polynesian New Zealand (Aotearoa) and her migration to Australia in 2009. In this very special site specific installation Yorston invites her audience to ask themselves “What is your Paradise Found...?”

In the show an iconic Australian symbol, the surfboard, becomes a metaphor for a canoe (Waka in New Zealand) that 'First Explorers' used to cross oceans in search of new lands and new paradises. Intentionally it is placed next to an oversized interpretation of a Hawaiian Lei, traditionally given as a welcoming adornment to arriving visitors.

A painting also features in the show called 'Floating The Islands Towards Their Paradise'. Fluid and transparent islands become vessels, highlighting the fragility of one’s journey and the unknown destination of a paradise.

Paradise Found will stand as a thought provoking welcome to visitors to the Northern Rivers this September and October. 

Fleur Yorston lives and works in Yamba, Northern NSW. Her studio at her eclectic lifestyle store Island Collective incorporates designer homewares, cultural art events, workshops and interior design consultation.