About Eleni

My art practice centres around the theme of place, environment, country, home. For me, the word ‘Place’ is synonymous with “Home’. Connection begins with knowing a place – its ecology, geology, how it presents itself in all weathers, its physical characteristics. This is what I explore in my art both en plein aire, as well as back in the studio where what has been gathered in these external observations coalesce with the internal dream state of myths and stories.

Like many of us these days, my notion of place/home/connection is very fluid. As a child I moved constantly – in between parents, schools, foster homes, cities: we were never in one place for very long. Yet I was blessed to be accompanied by a rich internal world of art and books and dreams that afforded me a still place in the centre of all the chaos.

A recent shift home from city to country has brought about immense internal shifts. Meditation on Place has become central to my thinking and with that, a far greater awareness of nature, of spirit, what it means to be a custodian of the land, and more importantly, how much more there is to learn.

Indigenous people always speak of the importance of country – it informs everything they do. As the Aboriginal lawyer, Ambelin Kwaymullina said:

In the learning born of country is the light that nourishes the world.