Peter is a Palawa/Gunaikurnai artist who has been exhibiting with The Torch since 2019. One of Peter’s first paintings, ‘No Refuge’, was acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria.

When incarcerated, Peter’s painting practice allowed him to mentally escape the confines of prison to ‘somewhere nice’.

Peter had an early career in the scientific glass industry, where he learnt to sculpt 3D forms. The transition from sculpting to painting has presented an interesting challenge to Peter, and he has learnt how to use light and shadow to create the illusion of form.

I tried to convey my feelings in my paintings: loneliness, grandeur, beauty, longing. Sometimes I come up with something that really impresses me, so I try to paint that.

He looked forward to his release from prison for the opportunity it afforded him to see the world literally in a new light, and to be able to paint in light and colours that he couldn’t see whilst he was inside.

This place [prison] is not very conducive to the imagination. At times, I’d like to try watercolour but we can’t have it here. We can’t get books, magazines or photos either. So I look for inspiration in the newspapers for something to paint. I saw a little black and white photocopy of a Tasmanian tiger so I painted that, and at the time I think I felt pretty much the same as it did.

Peter has been in our community program since his release earlier this year. He is an incredibly talented artist and we can’t wait to see the next steps in his journey. Snap up the four works he has available for sale below!

WORKS FOR SALE (Click to view more info)

SOLD WORKS