Brisbane
Inspired by her love of animals, artist Ronelle Reid uses ink, oils and watercolours to create
detailed, visual narratives that explore the relationships between animals and their habitats .
Artworks: 12
Inspired by her love of animals, artist Ronelle Reid uses ink, oils and watercolours to create
detailed, visual narratives that explore the relationships between animals and their habitats.
Her style is a combination of colourful, naturalist work with quirky compositions that pair
species who don’t coexist or share habitats. She invites viewers to ask why the rules of land,
air and sea no longer apply, and wonder why fish happily swim through the antlers of a
bongo antelope and butterflies flutter around a moray eel.
As a dedicated artist, Ronelle spent countless hours studying animals in museums, using
the taxidermic displays to understand and convey their forms. It wasn’t until she started work
with RSPCA that her experience with animal welfare gave her a new perspective.
Now, fuelled by this understanding, she combines her formal education in painting, screen
and printmaking to plan each composition, purposefully breaking the rules of taxonomic
categorisation. In doing so, her work draws attention to the interconnectedness between
species and invites viewers to see how they are being forced to adapt in rapidly changing
ecosystems, or risk extinction.
These pairings also invite people to engage in the character and personality of the individual
animals, challenging them to see them as more than just objects to be studied and
classified.
Aware that much of Australia’s rich biodiversity is found exclusively on this continent, and
that we have one of the highest rates of extinction globally, Ronelle’s next series will inspire
people to learn more about our vulnerable native animals and do more to protect them.
Her quirky, naturalist portrayals preserve and highlight the beauty and diversity of animals
right in our backyards, asking us to imagine if the kookaburra, the koala, or wallaby
were lost to us forever.
Winner- Drawing and Graphics Aspects Art Prize 2021
Finalist Omnia Art Prize 2022 />
Finalist Camberwell Art Prize
Finalist Clayton Utz 2021
Finalist Lethbridge 20000 2021
Finalist Gallipoli Art Prize 2021
Finalist John Villiers Outback Art Prize 2021
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