A foreign body, 2024, oil on canvas, framed, 61 x 61 cm
Stockroom Kyneton, gallery two
16 March / 21 April 2024
JOSHUA COCKING
A foreign body
During Cocking’s years living in remote Indigenous communities, he was always conscious of being an outsider. That despite Cocking’s good intentions, he was an interloper in an unfamiliar place. These paintings capture implausible orbs floating in the landscape, attempting to blend into their surroundings, reflecting and absorbing colour. But ultimately, they remain a foreign body; they do not belong. The Kimberley works represent Joshua Cocking’s ongoing attempts to immerse in a country and culture that is not his own. Conversely, the landscapes of south-western Victoria where he grew up are now also foreign; a sense of belonging eroded over half a lifetime lived away.