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Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Joan Ross, I tried to save you, 2025-26

Joan Ross

I tried to save you, 2025-26
acrylic on canvas
102 x 81.5 cm

Finalist in the Sulman Prize
In this picture, the background is barren, ravaged from greed. The woman, a colonial, holds a dying butterfly, which she has tried to save in an act that is full...
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In this picture, the background is barren, ravaged from greed. The woman, a colonial, holds a dying butterfly, which she has tried to save in an act that is full of regret but too late for redemption.

This is where we are sitting now in history: many of us worried about the environment, watching species become extinct before our eyes, not sure what we can do.

The reverberation of colonisation in our country is still palpable as greed envelops our world. Daily, we become more self-centred, our necks bent towards our phones. Our peripheral vision is disappearing and with it the trees, the insects and animals.
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