Jacqui Stockdale: Drawing the Labyrinth

See more than one hundred metres of drawings by acclaimed artist Jacqui Stockdale at McClelland Gallery+Sculpture Park, on display until the 19^th June. Presented in a fold-out concertina sketchbook and configured in the form of a labyrinth, this continuous length of drawings reflects the artists’ intimate journey over a twelve month period. Stockdale depicts moments spent travelling across Europe, incorporating a diverse array of portraits such as friends, family members, self-portraits, anonymous people on trains, teenagers in their classrooms, a live band on stage, even a woman giving birth. Making these sketches Stockdale seeks a direct connection with her subject, often drawing people she has spontaneously approached and invited to sit for her. Her mark making is a free and fluid process – embracing chance and happenstance within the overall composition – the artist comments that ‘like life, you go forward and work with the mistakes’.