Harrie’s practice is oriented around the personal and collective memories we house within ourselves and hold physically within our body. Critical to this sense of memory is the experience of touch, which is a fundamental aspect of McKay’s material and process-oriented practice. She explores this sensibility through the intensive processes of drawing with a ballpoint pen, combined with the layering of materials onto raw canvas. This process forms rich and worn textured surfaces that become meditations on the stillness, comfort and intimacy associated with memories of place, people and objects. Her detailed studies rendered in ink on raw canvas draw awareness to the subtle effects of light and shape, and express a deeply textural and tangible connection to memory.
In 2018, McKay completed a Bachelor of Contemporary Art at the University of South Australia and in 2019 received the inaugural John Christie Wright Memorial Prize for Painting. McKay completed her Honours year of a Bachelor of Visual Arts and Theory at The Australian National University in 2020, receiving First Class Honours. McKay is held in both private and public collections within Australia.
b. 1995
Based in Kaurna Yerta // Adelaide, Australia
Contact:
harrietmckay2@gmail.com
@harriemckay