Recollection Series by Leanne Larson
Artist Statement
This body of work reflects on the authoritarian environment of my youth - an upbringing shaped by rigid structures, obedience, and silence. What began as a cathartic exploration of personal history has grown, over time, into a broader meditation on the human condition.
Revisiting this work now, I recognize how deeply it speaks not only to my past, but to the present moment—when conformity is often rewarded, dissent is uncomfortable, and vulnerability requires courage.
Through metaphor, repetition, and subtle oddity, these works narrate my lived experience while questioning my role within larger systems of power, belief, and belonging. They speak to the tension between staying with the herd and choosing to step outside of it - to think independently, to remember honestly, and to tell one’s own story even when it feels risky.
In my printed work, I restrict my focus to objects that symbolize fragments of my childhood experience. Torn dresses, long braided hair, barbed wire, and rope act as metaphors for hardship, restraint, and imposed discipline. A series of monotypes depicts common household objects used for punishing children. The processes of monotype and collograph allow me to experiment with texture and pressure, mimicking the impressions these objects leave on the body, and, by extension, the psyche. I intentionally scratch and scuff the plates, allowing damage and imperfection to become part of the narrative, while muted and manipulated color suggests memory, erosion, and the passage of time.
My paintings function as narrative vignettes - quiet, suspended moments drawn from emotional memory rather than literal documentation. These figurative works convey isolation, rejection, shame, displacement, fear, and a fragile sense of self. Anonymous forms share the same physical space, yet color intensity and spatial dislocation separate one figure, often representing myself, from the others. This separation mirrors the internal experience of feeling present but unseen, included yet fundamentally apart.
Additional paintings explore the literal interpretation of biblical language through the lens of childhood understanding. Figures are paired with animals and birds, symbols drawn from my rural Australian upbringing - to reflect innocence, belief, and the confusion that arises when doctrine is absorbed without context. Using under-painting, oil glazes, and a muted palette of complementary colors, I build atmosphere while allowing certain figures to recede into tenebrous space. This quiet withdrawal becomes both a protective gesture and an act of self-definition.
Ultimately, this work is about survival through awareness - about choosing reflection over compliance, truth over silence. While rooted in my own story, these images invite viewers to consider their relationship to authority, belief, and belonging, and to reflect on what it means to remain human, vulnerable, and self-aware in environments that discourage deviation.
