TROUBLESOME STRANGER
“Troublesome Stranger is a show that unpacks our relationship with notions of beauty. It looks to invasive species of flowers as a means of addressing how preconceived ideas of beauty can often be misplaced through our connections to the gardens of the United Kingdom and Europe.
Following from her series of drawings from her properties tac shed, Richardson looks out across the farm, beyond the previously agapanthus lined drive and onto a broader landscape. Domestic gardens that have left their mark on the landscape, invasive weeds with their alluring ‘prettiness’ become central to a series embedded with duality. These drawings go far beyond the notion of botanical study in their richly seductive imaging, their teasing of pollination and the expression of minute details like droplets on leaves and thorns on stems. As always, Richardson’s images pack a punch in their graphic play, inventive approach to scale and compositional cropping of image. They beguile like the flower does the insect, they ask us to see both their beauty but to question why we think of them as beautiful”
James Kerr, 2026
Following from her series of drawings from her properties tac shed, Richardson looks out across the farm, beyond the previously agapanthus lined drive and onto a broader landscape. Domestic gardens that have left their mark on the landscape, invasive weeds with their alluring ‘prettiness’ become central to a series embedded with duality. These drawings go far beyond the notion of botanical study in their richly seductive imaging, their teasing of pollination and the expression of minute details like droplets on leaves and thorns on stems. As always, Richardson’s images pack a punch in their graphic play, inventive approach to scale and compositional cropping of image. They beguile like the flower does the insect, they ask us to see both their beauty but to question why we think of them as beautiful”
James Kerr, 2026
|
|
Anna Louise Richardson, Extracts: prickly pear, 2025, charcoal on cement fibreboard, 90 x 90 cm
|
|
Anna Louise Richardson, Extracts: lavender, 2025, charcoal on cement fibreboard, 90 x 90 cm
|
|
Anna Louise Richardson, Extracts: lantana, 2025, charcoal on cement fibreboard, 90 x 90 cm
|
|
Anna Louise Richardson, Extracts: bougainvillea, 2025, charcoal on cement fibreboard, 90 x 90 cm
|
|
Anna Louise Richardson, Extracts: oleander, 2025, charcoal on cement fibreboard, 90 x 90 cm
|
|
L: Anna Louise Richardson, Iris, 2026, charcoal on cement fibreboard, 90 x 60 cm
R: Anna Louise Richardson, Agapanthus, 2026, charcoal on cement fibreboard, 90 x 60 cm
R: Anna Louise Richardson, Agapanthus, 2026, charcoal on cement fibreboard, 90 x 60 cm
|
Anna Louise Richardson, Yellow Flag Iris, 2026, charcoal on cut cement fibreboard, 221 x 92 x 3.5 cm
|
|
L: Anna Louise Richardson, Arum Lily I, 2026, charcoal on cut cement fibreboard, 160 x 115 x 3.5 cm
R: Anna Louise Richardson, Arum Lily II, 2026, charcoal on cut cement fibreboard, 202 x 95 x 3.5 cm
R: Anna Louise Richardson, Arum Lily II, 2026, charcoal on cut cement fibreboard, 202 x 95 x 3.5 cm
Anna Louise Richardson, Monarch, 2026, charcoal on cut cement fibreboard, wire, emu feathers, 64 x 138 x 3.5 cm
|
|
L: Anna Louise Richardson, Monarch & Blackberry, 2026, charcoal on cut cement fibreboard, 63.5 cm diameter, 2.6 cm deep
R: Anna Louise Richardson, Chrysalis, 2026, charcoal on cut cement fibreboard, 87 x 43 x 3.5 cm
R: Anna Louise Richardson, Chrysalis, 2026, charcoal on cut cement fibreboard, 87 x 43 x 3.5 cm
|
|
L: Anna Louise Richardson, Snail I, 2026, charcoal on cut cement fibreboard, 66 x 34 x 3.5 cm
R: Anna Louise Richardson, Snail II, 2026, charcoal on cut cement fibreboard, 28 x 63 x 3.5 cm
R: Anna Louise Richardson, Snail II, 2026, charcoal on cut cement fibreboard, 28 x 63 x 3.5 cm
Anna Louise Richardson
b. 1992, Perth, Australia
Lives and works on Bindjareb Nyoongar Boodja outside Perth, Australia
Anna Louise Richardson’s drawing-based practice is grounded in personal experience and rural life. Growing up on a beef cattle farm, where she continues to live with her family, Richardson’s work explores themes of parenthood, intergenerational relationships, mortality, and human-animal connection. Her drawings use animals, domestic objects, and agricultural references, blending realism with stylised elements, exaggerated scale, flattened perspectives, and cut-out shapes to heighten the emotional impact of familiar imagery.
As a non-Indigenous Australian living on a multigenerational farm, Richardson’s practice is shaped by an awareness of the legacies and privileges of living and working on unceded Aboriginal land. Her work reflects on how identity is formed through place, family, and memory, engaging with the complexities of rural life. At the heart of Richardson's practice is intimate, regionally grounded storytelling and a commitment to radical optimism—finding beauty and connection in the everyday.
A graduate of Curtin University (2013), Richardson has developed a strong practice as both an artist and curator. Notable projects include When Night Falls (2020) at Maitland Regional Art Gallery, and Museums & Galleries of NSW national tour of The Good (2023–2026), a major solo exhibition exploring concepts of goodness through the lens of motherhood and rural life, co-commissioned by Wagga Wagga Art Gallery and The Condensery. In 2023, she was the inaugural winner of the Girra: Fraser Coast National Art Prize at Hervey Bay Regional Gallery.
b. 1992, Perth, Australia
Lives and works on Bindjareb Nyoongar Boodja outside Perth, Australia
Anna Louise Richardson’s drawing-based practice is grounded in personal experience and rural life. Growing up on a beef cattle farm, where she continues to live with her family, Richardson’s work explores themes of parenthood, intergenerational relationships, mortality, and human-animal connection. Her drawings use animals, domestic objects, and agricultural references, blending realism with stylised elements, exaggerated scale, flattened perspectives, and cut-out shapes to heighten the emotional impact of familiar imagery.
As a non-Indigenous Australian living on a multigenerational farm, Richardson’s practice is shaped by an awareness of the legacies and privileges of living and working on unceded Aboriginal land. Her work reflects on how identity is formed through place, family, and memory, engaging with the complexities of rural life. At the heart of Richardson's practice is intimate, regionally grounded storytelling and a commitment to radical optimism—finding beauty and connection in the everyday.
A graduate of Curtin University (2013), Richardson has developed a strong practice as both an artist and curator. Notable projects include When Night Falls (2020) at Maitland Regional Art Gallery, and Museums & Galleries of NSW national tour of The Good (2023–2026), a major solo exhibition exploring concepts of goodness through the lens of motherhood and rural life, co-commissioned by Wagga Wagga Art Gallery and The Condensery. In 2023, she was the inaugural winner of the Girra: Fraser Coast National Art Prize at Hervey Bay Regional Gallery.