Hospital art – Breathing in Mountains
New hospital tower internal wall artwork – Breathing in Mountains by Nicola Moss.
About the art
- Medium: Paper collage and acrylic paint digitally printed on vinyl.
- Artist: Nicola Moss.
- Year: 2021.
Breathing in Mountains reflects on the experience of encountering intimate details within a vast landscape. Unique topographies of the Greater Blue Mountains are featured in backdrops of rockface, sky, river and forest, punctuated with details of wild flowers, birds, gum nut and contour patterns.
Drawn from memories of walks, each artwork records textures of sensory engagement and feelings of place. Looking to the sky through eucalypt leaf or finding a frog in a rockpool. For the artist, these moments speak of a sense of well-being she feels when in contact with nature.
Breathing in Mountains considers metaphorically the Nepean Hospital operating as landscape of care and well-being. Within this ecology of health, patients, visitors, staff and carers, experience details of intimacy in connected relationships of care and service.
Artist bio
Nicola Moss is an Australian artist engaging people in considering the value of healthy environment. Her collaged works highlight the importance of green spaces amid congested urban environments. Relying on an archive of papers coloured using paint, graphite, printmaking and various stains, Moss' materials travel with her as she explores the physical landscape. Framing nature as a source rather than a resource, the artist highlights how intrinsic sustainable green spaces are to our well-being, both physical and mental.
Nicola Moss has exhibited throughout Australia; in Japan, Sweden and the USA since beginning her professional practice in 2006. Moss was awarded the Moreton Bay Region Art Award (2012) and HOTA Gallery Commission (2020). She has been a finalist in numerous awards including the Len Fox Painting Prize, John Leslie Art Prize, Fisher’s Ghost Art Award, the STILL: National Still Life Award, Gold Coast Art Prize, Geelong Contemporary Art Award, Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize, Libris Awards and the Sunshine Coast Art Prize. Her work is held in several collections including that of HOTA Gallery Gold Coast, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, Moreton Bay Region Art Collection and Redland Art Gallery.