Harriet Links explores memory and emotion through abstraction, and communicates the complexities of her personal history. The work is a visual exploration of self, revealing the layered nuances of childhood and growing up in Australia in the 80s. It offers insight into her shadow self, identity, and the process of self-discovery.
Tide Inside
This exhibition explores childhood memories of fishing on Tasmania’s Derwent River, contrasting modest family homes with moments of connection by the water. Through native fish and textured interiors, the exhibition reveals the shifting tides of family, memory, and the quiet currents that shape our lives.
Showing 27 AUG - 1 SEPT
SOCIAL
Salamanca Arts Centre,
67 Salamanaca Place, Hobart
Openning daily from 10-5pm
Lay-by options for mailing list & Tasmanians
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This body of work comes from a place deep within me. As a child, my happiest memories were the adventures I had with my dad. I lived for those days when my brothers and I would climb the cliffs at Blackman’s Bay, daring each other to step higher, or waiting with excitement to see what might appear at the end of our fishing lines. Those moments were full of laughter, storytelling, and the kind of connection that stays with you for life.
Home wasn’t always simple, but outside, with the salt air on our skin and the sound of the sea around us, there was freedom. Nature gave us a space where things felt lighter, easier, and more alive.
Today, I share these same experiences with my own children. We fish, we go exploring, and we find joy in the wonder of the outdoors. I paint with the hope that they, too, will carry these memories forward — and that the ocean remains rich with life, so that their children can discover the same sense of adventure and belonging.
My childhood memories are shaped by Tasmania’s landscapes and the homes I grew up in. My work contrasts the modest, often rented houses of my early life with the quiet, open moments spent fishing on the Derwent River, where connection and presence emerged.
The domestic spaces in my work are filled with worn tiles and textured surfaces—details drawn from everyday family homes rather than idealised settings. These interiors hint at emotional distance and quiet tension, reflecting the complexities of family relationships. In contrast, the fishing trips along the Derwent offered moments of attentiveness, learning, and connection. The river became a space of freedom and calm amid domestic challenges.
I portray native Tasmanian fish swimming across patterned tile backgrounds, symbolising the interplay between memory, place, and emotion. The fish carry the lessons and love of those fishing moments, while the tiles evoke the textured domestic environments that framed my early life.
The work reflects the shifting tides of human relationships—the ebb and flow of connection and distance, tenderness and tension. Through layered imagery and sensory detail, I aim to capture the nuanced balance of love and absence that marked my childhood.
Tide Inside is both an act of reflection and healing. It holds space for the complexities of family bonds, contrasting the emotional distance within the home with moments of presence by the river. The openness of the water against the rigidity of domestic spaces allows me to explore themes of freedom and possibility.
Bound by Tasmania’s natural and cultural landscape, Tide Inside connects my personal history to universal themes of family, identity, and place. Through these works, I invite viewers to consider their own inner tides—the unseen currents that shape who we are and how we relate.
