Sarah Harper

Sarah Harper – Artist

I am an artist based in Diamond Harbour, Canterbury. The inspiration for my practice comes
from my experiences of living and working as a woman in rural New Zealand.
Predominantly working as a painter, I have recently begun to also work with clay, writing poetry
and experiment with collage and mixed media. The inspiration for all practices overlaps and has
been beneficial to the process of my work.
Motivated by the landscape that surrounds me and a fascination with the discordant nature of
human behaviour / conditioning, the intention of my recent work has been to explore and
navigate ideas surrounding connection / disconnect and the influence our environment can
have.
Fueled by a curiosity regarding issues such as belonging, social justice, bullying, feminism,
hierarchy and connection, I have been attempting to express my understanding and knowledge
of these intricacies of human behaviour and ultimately how they link to one’s environment.
Motivated to make large works that are raw and provocative, I am eager to address
uncomfortable issues, often using text, recurring motifs and heavily textured surfaces to
highlight the impetus of the work. Simplified landscape forms are often used as the initial
platform to express these concerns.
My need to understand the contradictory nature of humans has encouraged extensive and
ongoing research into spirituality; material which has begun to play out in my recent work, along
with my own written poetry.

Artwork

Examples of Sarah’s work can be viewed at Mobile Art Gallery, 23 Edwin Street, Mt Eden, Auckland.