Kelly Shrimpton’s 2023 exhibition We Need to Talk About Living used abstract painting to address grief, serious injury and the difficult process of continuing after loss.
The Rotorua artist began the body of work after a 2014 mountain-bike accident left her with a severe concussion.
Painting after ordinary abilities disappeared
Shrimpton could no longer return immediately to work, watch television or listen to podcasts. The restriction changed how she spent time and forced her to find quieter forms of activity.
Painting became a way of releasing frustration connected with the injury, the death of her mother and the loss of her partner.
The exhibition used a consistent palette of blue and gold inspired by Lake Tekapo, its sky and surrounding tussock.
Letting acrylic ink move beyond control
Shrimpton worked with acrylic inks whose flow could not be completely directed.
She would make an intervention, leave the surface to dry and return to find that the ink had travelled or even run beyond the canvas edge.
The process required her to abandon a fixed image of how the painting should finish. She connected that need to let go and respond with the wider experience of life after injury and bereavement.
Nature also became part of her recovery. Time spent looking at lakes and landscapes allowed her brain to rest while giving the paintings their visual source.
We Need to Talk About Living did not present grief as a problem to solve. Its fluid surfaces described adjustment, frustration and the gradual possibility of responding to what cannot be controlled.