Audrey Anderson’s ‘Fit in Outside’ Artist Statement
Audrey Anderson’s exhibition Fit In Outside is now showing in The McKee Gallery. Here, the artist shares her thoughts on the work and the ideas behind the exhibition:
Audrey Anderson in The McKee Gallery - Braden Fastier / Nelson Mail
Fit In Outside:
The exhibition begins with a window. The large gallery window overlooking the Queens Gardens was central to my decision to exhibit here. It frames a living landscape that changes with light, weather, and time, becoming a real-time counterpart to the drawn spaces inside. This window sits among other windows, reinforcing the act of looking, pausing, and being present.
Fit In Outside emerges from my experience of making New Zealand my home. Arriving here felt like passing through a porthole and finding myself on the other side of everything I knew. The world appeared both unfamiliar and strangely right. While there is a saying that the grass is not greener on the other side, my lived experience has been that it is. This exhibition reflects a sense of otherness, belonging, and emotional recalibration.
Before arriving, I made a conscious decision to give this place my heart. To accept it fully, with all its complexities, and to allow it to shape both my life and my practice. While I carry my past with me, as all artists do, I wanted the work in this exhibition to originate here, filtered through observation, presence, and attention to light.
For much of my life I have drawn from the shadows. In response to this new environment, I chose to work differently. These drawings depict only what is illuminated. The dark is left for the viewer’s mind to complete. Light becomes both subject and method, shaping form, atmosphere, and perception.
The forest appears repeatedly throughout the work. I have always been drawn to these spaces, where immersion brings a sense of wonder and quiet restoration. Forests offer a feeling of being engulfed, which is why sky is kept to a minimum and pathways often stretch forward, inviting movement and curiosity. These scenes are not staged. They arise from moments of arrested motion, when everyday activity is interrupted by unexpected beauty.
The works are rooted in ordinary experience, navigating the familiar rhythms of daily routines. These moments can seem mundane, yet when approached with mindfulness, they reveal profound beauty. I am drawn to these in-between spaces, where presence allows the overlooked to surface.
Fit In Outside unfolds through light, absence, and the quiet charge of paying attention. Like the view through the gallery window, the work reveals only fragments, asking the rest to be held in the mind.
Pelorus Winter (Acylic Ink on Canvas) by Audrey Anderson
