Holding Pattern, River Hug

Sally Anderson's Holding Pattern, River Hug unfolds as an intimate meditation on care, memory, and the cyclical rhythms that shape a life. Drawing from her own experience of motherhood, domestic space, and profound personal change, Anderson brings together painting, still life, and art historical reference to explore what it means to hold and be held.

In this new body of work, the domestic becomes both subject and structure. Objects drawn from daily life—jugs, dish racks, bead mazes—act as quiet vessels, carrying the weight of labour, repetition, and tenderness. These forms echo a longer lineage of maternal imagery, with subtle nods to artists such as Pablo Picasso and Bob Thompson, while remaining grounded in Anderson's distinctly personal visual language.

The exhibition's title holds multiple meanings. "Holding patterns" suggests both the physical and emotional labour of motherhood, and the looping cycles we move through—of care, grief, and renewal. River Hug anchors the exhibition in place and memory, drawn from a photograph of Anderson and her son in the water at Brunswick Heads—an image of connection that flows through the work.