Xanthe Muston, ‘I Couldn’t (Can’t) Explain It’  2021. Watercolour, ink, and gouache on paper. 110 x 78 cm. Image courtesy: the artist.   

Artist statement

Narratives play a central role in our ability to make sense of the world. However, some lived experiences resist narrativity.  Influenced by Raymond Carver’s short story ‘Why Don’t You  Dance?’, my drawing seeks to describe, rather paradoxically,  an ineffable experience of surreal human connection. Combining the literal and abstract, I use my mark making to express the tension found in articulating in-between moments of intangible meaning that one couldn’t (and most probably can’t) explain.   

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