It would be all too easy to take a biographical reading of the Australian-born artist and refer to her travels through that country’s landscape, but that would be to succumb to a decidedly literal reading. Even to most urban Australians, let alone those from around the world, Australia remains a surreal place, filtered through tourism advertising and tele vision documentary. Shaw, despite initial appearances, is never literal. She is more an alchemist of imagery, mixing materials in a purge of academic rigor and with a brazenly anarchic and willful mission of discovery.

Catalogue essay Pattern Recognition Ashley Crawford 2026