Team:UNSW Australia/Exhibition/Petra Meikle de Vlas

iGEM UNSW - Virtual Exhibition

Petra Meikle de Vlas


"I recreate coral and ocean scenes because I'm very passionate and deeply moved by the beauty of them, but they also provide my protection. The Great barrier reef is less than 15 nautical miles from the coastal village where I live. The reef systems there act as a key barrier to guard against incoming storms and mitigate the damage done by surging waters, like in the event of a cyclone, in which we have many formed each wet season. Losing these coral reefs due to the rise of sea temperatures is a devastating thought."

Based in Cairns Australia, Petra creates highly textured, mixed media works inspired by the turquoise waters of the great barrier reef.
Self-taught, she rarely follows conventional art methods and has developed a technique of her own. In addition to paint brushes, she uses her hands, air guns, blow torch, force and gravity.
The texture is the reef, rocks or land mass, the liquid paint is the water, spray bottles are used for the force of nature like rain, hairdryer is the wind, blowtorch is the sun, and gravity (tilting the board this way and that) is the tide.
We acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the Traditional Custodians of country in Australia, and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their Elders, both past and present.