Join us for the opening of The Great Boat Approaches, a new exhibition by Meanjin/Brisbane-based artist Deborah Norrie-Jones.

Bringing together poetry, archival works and recent paintings, The Great Boat Approaches is an inquiry into relationships and mortality. The exhibition follows Deborah’s journey through her husband’s terminal illness, their travels together, their return to the homeland, and life after his death.

Gestural charcoal and pastel drawings sit alongside watercolours, oil paintings and recent abstract figurative acrylic works. Informed by Expressionism and Deborah’s background in arts therapy, her process begins with what she describes as a “felt sense on the edge of the unknown”, followed by rapid, intuitive mark-making and a slower process of reflection and refinement.

Much of the earlier work developed from an early morning practice of charcoal drawing during her husband’s illness. Fear, doubt, hope, faith, pain, love, despair and confusion move in and out of focus, while recurring images gradually emerge across the works.

Boats toss in a Turkish bay, black pebbles drag in the tide at Santorini, and cliffs fall sharply in the South Downs of the UK. On returning home, a great boat waits and rocks in the sky, becoming an image of death to be reckoned with.

Rather than offering a fixed narrative, Deborah leaves space for viewers to bring their own experiences to the work and find their own meanings within it.

This exhibition will also support Cancer Council, with Creative Room Art Space donating 5% of the sale price of original works sold through the gallery from its commission.

Friday, 9 October 2026 | 6 pm - 8 pm
Creative Room Art Space
15 Dornoch Terrace, West End

Free entry. Registration recommended.

The Great Boat Approaches is on view from 9 October to 4 November 2026.

Contact the host of The Great Boat Approaches | Opening Event