Michelle Henry

Michelle most often paints the flower as a metaphor, exploring themes of love, lust and longing as intrinsic to the human condition. Never needing to look far for visual inspiration, Michelle photographs and draws flowers wherever she can. These become reference points for further investigations in paint. Her images can come from her own yard, her mother’s garden, local walks, overseas and interstate trips, or bouquets given for special occasions. Working in thin layers of oil paint built up through scumbling and glazing, Michelle constructs the surface to suggest the subtle play of light on and through the petals, leaves and structure of each plant.

Her interest in the language of love has seen her scour diverse literary sources from the bible, ancient Greek, Indian and Australian poetry and Shakespeare, to Denis Diderot’s love letters to his mistress for the evocative titles, which accompany her work. For her, the strength of her practice lies in this combination of image and title.