INTERVIEW

We spoke to Cambodian born artist, Dalin Alejandrino whose abstract works are deeply rooted in memory, motherhood, and the beauty of the natural world. Working from a sunlit garden studio in her family home in Stanmore, Sydney she blurs the lines between domestic life and creative expression. Through textured layers, she weaves visual stories that honour both her past and present. Dalin invites us into her world where her art and family life coexist.

I’m a self-taught artist who creates abstract artworks, each embodying a sense of wonder and beauty in nature and its forms. My works are a dialogue between motherhood and making as I navigate life, creativity, and my inner landscape through a world of visual storytelling.

My abstract expressionism is characterised by unconscious memories and cascading landscapes brought to life through subtle textures, whimsical brushwork, and the free-flowing movement of colour and mixed media.

As a Cambodian refugee, with my family migrating to Australia in 1987, I often draw inspiration from my motherland. That estrangement from land and family is interconnected with my emotions, while paying homage to family, motherhood, heritage, and provincial life.

I often struggle with this concept of “home”. Is it a physical space or a place/people I feel most connected to? This can be another conversation.

I currently call home our rental abode in Stanmore (Gadigal Land), Sydney’s Inner West. We live in a beautiful federation house built roughly in the 1890s-1915. We recently moved here after my second child was born for more space, as we outgrew our 2 bedroom apartment. We fell in love with the period features, including the artistic wood fretwork, stain-glass windows, and tessellated tiles. Mostly, I feel in love with the tiny laundry studio in the garden where I spend a lot of time painting and pondering.

To me, creativity means freedom. It’s a link between my culture and creative identity. Creativity is an innate part of who I am and is essential for living a life with meaning. The act of making and creating (in any form) allows me to collect my thoughts, express something only the visual language can portray, and pay tribute to my inner child.

During COVID, I had a lot of time to reflect – I knew innately that I’ve always been creative since I was a child, so I slowly picked up my brushes and palette knives and simply painted. As my first born was learning to crawl, I was learning to fall in love with painting all over again. In a way the act was cathartic and my inner child was smiling with joy. I haven’t stopped painting since.

Art and culture were something the Pol Pot regime tried to destroy in the Cambodian civil war. This freedom of expression through my art practice is something I will never take for granted.

I often find inspiration from the environment and people around me. Delving into the unknown when painting, I draw on themes hovering between past and present, family and home, land and country. I utilise layer upon layer of acrylic and mixed media to create my ethereal works. Each layer a memory, each mark an emotion, converging into abstract works that hover between my inner and outer worlds.

Absolutely! My home studio is like a little sanctuary to me, it’s a doorway to heaven where magic can emerge. Once inside, I often look outside - to the sky, the clouds, the leaves, the textures on a tree; I feel the wind, and linger on shadows that cast on the floor or wall. It’s the mundane, everyday things that often spark meaning and develop further onto the canvas. Since becoming a mother, my daughter and son have naturally influenced my being and art practice. I’m always in constant conversation with nature and nurture.

My current medium of choice is acrylic paint layered with oil sticks and oil pastels. I love seeing how the opposing tension between the two mediums interplay, build texture, and free-flowing movement; where bold marks are interlaced with quieter colours. The layering of texture and line work invites the audience to ponder and reflect on their own relationship with the environment around them. The medium is an extension of who I am as I draw from past experiences and faded memories. The transparent washes juxtaposed with opaque brushwork asks the viewer to enter the world of my psychology, and unearth the many complex layers. There is so much more than just the art itself.

Discover Dalin Alejandrino’s work through SIBU Gallery and Kerrie-Ann Jones Gallery. Her upcoming exhibition, Quiet Tides, will be showcased at Michael Reid Northern Beaches Gallery.

dalinalejandrino.com | @dalin.alejandrino