Ingrid Morley’s sculptures echo tragedy and renewal

Ingrid Morley’s exhibition The past is just behind at Orange Regional Gallery was born out of a period of great upheaval for the artist. Morley lives and works in Oberon—or Gundungurra lands, part of Wiradjuri country—where the beautiful yet rugged terrain experiences great fluctuations in temperature, with snowfall one season and bushfires the next.

The last couple of years have seen Morley reckoning with both natural and personal disaster, including a studio fire and the death of a very close friend in an accident. The resulting works, both in sculpture and on paper, are a response to this.

Many of Morley’s sculptures are cut from steel, and despite the rigidity of the material, they often take on human-like forms. Harsh edges meet smooth curves in these, echoing the disruption the artist has experienced, and embracing the absurdity of it all.

View, in pictures, Ingrid Morley’s monuments to loss and change.

Ingrid Morley, The Past is Just Behind, 2023, steel, 130 x 195 x 103cm.

Ingrid Morley, Home Run, 2023.

Imgrid Morley, The past is just behind III, 2023.

Ingrid Morley, The Past is Just Behind ll (with wall drawing).

Ingrid Morley, Night Music.

The past is just behind
Ingrid Morley
Orange Regional Gallery
15 July—10 September