Happy Places
Belconnen Arts Centre
An exhibition by Katrina Barter
Happy Places presents a new body of work by Katrina Barter that extends her established visual language through increased scale and a focused engagement with moments of heightened appreciation.
The paintings are developed from photographs taken on her mobile phone, captured in moments of gratitude for being alive and for the experience itself. These source images are not treated as records, but as points of departure. Through Barter's process of abstraction into large grid-based compositions, the works move away from depiction toward sensation.
Scale plays a central role in this body of work. The paintings are intended to be immersive, inviting a physical and perceptual encounter that echoes the intensity of the originating moments.
In Happy Places, Barter considers how such moments are held in memory: not as clear images but as enduring atmospheres. The works offer a space for viewers to enter into a space where recognition gives way to feeling, and where a sense of connection, awe, and presence can be activated.
