One of Western Australia’s most talented young artists who visited the North Pole for inspiration says the freezing wasteland isn’t too different to her home State.
Melissa Clements embarked on the remarkable journey to Longyearbyen in Svalbard in April, the world’s northernmost settlement, after she pitched a creative development trip to the Melbourne-based Blackbird Foundation.
Spending 10 days in the remote Arctic town, the 25-year-old said she felt like she was “on the edge of the world” when she went about collecting inspiration for a solo exhibition.
“It’s so incredibly remote, it’s a wild, alien landscape but it had a familiarity to it as well being from Perth which is also an isolated city,” she said.
“The desert reminded me of some of the outback landscapes in WA just covered in snow.
“I felt so excited and grateful, I’m so aware of how lucky I am to have this unique experience, most of the visitors to Svalbard are science researchers if not wealthy tourists, so I never dreamed I’d get the opportunity to go.”
Ms Clements also encountered a polar bear on her first time travelling outside the Svalbard settlement in a sighting locals said was extremely rare.
On a 185km snowmobile expedition to the east coast of Spitzbergen, the giant marine mammal crossed Ms Clements and her tour group’s track.
“It was about 250m away, the guides went into survival mode. They also have to carry rifles if leaving the main settlement, and we had to divert our route home,” she said.
“It wasn’t scary but it was very serious afterwards and we became more vigilant and aware.”
Ms Clements also took a dog sled to seek out wildlife, glaciers and scenes of the tundra.
Before the trip, Ms Clements did her research on what to pack to survive the harsh conditions where temperatures can fall to minus 16C at night.
Now back in WA, the artist is aiming to create 15 paintings for a solo exhibition to take place in January inside the Pearce Art Space in Fremantle.
Ms Clements’ work will explore ideas of freedom, transformation and awakening by getting viewers to step into her landscapes.
“I’m interested in the ebb and flows of the human journey, and I use my art as a tool to make sense of being alive, to reflect on our place within the world,” she said.
“In particular, this body of work considers the psychology of landscapes and how the sublime of places like the Arctic can be the antidote to the mundane, dreary treadmill of modern life, making us contemplate our simultaneous fragility and resilience.”
Ms Clements was an Archibald Prize finalist last year for her self-portrait In The Driveway which was chosen alongside fellow WA artist Jill Ansell and 57 other Australian creatives.
Ms Clements was also involved in the Archibald Prize this year but rather had work featured in the Salon—which is like the semi-finals of the competition.
“It’s argued the Salon is harder to get into because it has less finalists than the main show,” she said.
Her tiny self-portrait painting titled My Grandfather Died Today captured Ms Clements on the day she found out her grandad passed away.
“On the day he passed I didn’t know but I knew he wasn’t well, I was painting when a willy wagtail came into my studio. I looked up and said ‘Is that you?’”
“It flew around my head three times then went outside.”
In Noongar culture, the willy wagtail represents a messenger and lets people know when a loved one will soon pass.
Ms Clements’ dad called minutes later to bear the sad news.
The winner of the prestigious Archibald prize takes home $100,000.
