Connie Burns Artist

Wonderous: A State of Being, 2019

Wondrous: A State of Being (2019)

Wondrous was a three‑piece installation shown in a distinctive exhibition space in Bendigo, Victoria. These large‑scale collaged mixed‑media works respond to the illnesses that have affected my family and to the bewildering, fragile nature of life itself. The title points to wonder as much as grief — the odd, painful awe of being alive while witnessing loss.

Each drawing is roughly two metres square and built from layered collaged papers to create tactile, three‑dimensional surfaces. I work with acrylic, pastel, ink and charcoal to make marks that register both bodily presence and absence. I made these pieces because I needed something tangible to look at and to hold onto after losing those around me; making became a way to sit with the mystery of life and death and to make sense of what remains..