Many Australians have family or ancestry from somewhere else … over the seas.  
 In 2014 I took " The Way Back Home"  to Ireland and Europe, for the first time, to where my family ancestry is from.  I hoped to discover the connection I had with my artwork swirls, my love of Celtic art and medieval manuscripts which have featured strongly in my work.  I also wanted to find connections to the origins of family traditions which I grew up with.   I found the connections in unexpected places and I was overwhelmed coming face to face with those images engraved in stone or painted on centuries old plaster and the interconnectedness of all things...

The work in this exhibition scratches back the surface of what you see, into the story behind the homes and the  heritage of those people.  I think we take for granted the culture we have been handed down and bestowed upon us by our family... casting the history aside because we cannot see anymore its immediate relevance, or because its origins are far removed from the every day.  The disconnection with our past stretches well beyond our houses and touches on many aspects of our lives.

I was amazed to find I had more connections with Italy, due to the links with the church  up bringing, illuminated manuscripts and calligraphy and growing up in a church going family with the family name of Francis, local Franciscan college  and stained glass windows.

Thankyou for taking the journey with me… as we each bring with us a treasure of heritage and at some stage start  to research our own ancestry. 

When in Ireland, I was hoping to find out more about the direct links my Brosnan line has to the Druids  …   but maybe on another trip … I am so grateful and happy my home is Australia, Queensland.          …               Pamela Gough