Peter Kozak, winner of the Marie Ellis OAM Prize in 2012, presents an exhibition that is alluring and ignites curiosity. Snow is Flesh examines the idea and experience of decay — a concept so vast and involved, brought so eloquently to visual planes by simply putting pencil to paper.
The aim is to conceptualise fraying fibres of strands of wool; the result are tangled, heaving bodies on the page, each with a mind and motivation of their own, working together to show the life that remains on the page, while tearing apart in an act of struggle or release. The “inevitable and uncontrollable changes that effect the human body on which we are all precariously dependent” will present a different meaning to each person who views Kozak’s work, and yet each illustration manages to collate the individual into one image.
Assess and reflect in your own way; some describe viewing Kozak’s works as sharing in a meditative state, an opportunity to think about shared human experiences as well as the individuality of transience.