Rejecting her urban upbringing in Brazil, Fernanda O’Connell has created a peripatetic life that has become the foundation of her artwork.  A self-trained painter, the ocean has become a metaphor for life: her realistic, moody, and fleeting images are filled with energy.

O’Connell comes to art making with a background in fashion, design and tourism which has given her an international grounding that continues to feed into her practice. 

‘I am still, life, even so you are fleeting’

My concern is to convey the fleeting nature of life.

These paintings reflect on the fragility of life and the ephemeral nature of it. The realisation of these paintings are a direct response to the current zeitgeist of political instability, post pandemic mindset and the speed of digital evolution.

The subject of flowers and their aesthetically pleasing forms, vaguely recognisable in its hastened pace, represent humanity in modern times…beautiful yet so incredibly delicate.