Xanthorrhoea | Arabella Walker

Xanthorrhoea

Arabella Walker

20 January - 7 February 2026

Image credit:

Front page: Decompose (2), 2025

This page: Regrowth, 2026

Xanthorrhoea

January 2026

Grass trees have always been part of my life. They lined the places where I grew up, where I went to school, and the landscapes I moved through every day. Without realising it at the time, they quietly became markers of familiarity and belonging. Grass trees are also native to Wulli Wulli Country, making them a constant presence between my upbringing and my cultural inheritance.

As someone who did not grow up living on Country, my connection to Country has been shaped through small, repeated encounters — through motifs, memories, and the living forms that surrounded me. The grass tree became one of these anchors. It represents a relationship to Country that is built slowly, through observation, proximity, and care, rather than through direct occupation.

Xanthorrhoea traces the life cycle of a grass tree, from seed to growth, maturity, fire, and eventual decomposition. Each stage is explored through abstraction, drawing on colour, pattern, movement, and flow to reflect the grass tree’s resilience and transformation over time. Rather than presenting a literal narrative, the works respond to the energy and character of each phase of life.

The exhibition is designed as a journey. Viewers are invited to move through the space in sequence, experiencing the life cycle as a progression — from beginning to end, and ultimately back into the land. In doing so, Xanthorrhoea speaks to cycles of regeneration, endurance, and continuity, reflecting both the grass tree’s life and my own ongoing relationship to Country.

Left:

Decompose (1)

2025

Acrylic on canvas

121 x 91 cm

$4,400

Right:

Decompose (2)

2025

Acrylic on canvas

121 x 91 cm

$4,400

Prime Time (1) & (2)

Up close (1) 2026

$700

Up close (2) 2026

Take another look (1)

Take another look (2) 2026