Gentle Reminder

Following more than a decade living in Asia, Merryn Trevethan presents Gentle Reminder. The exhibition comprises a site responsive wall-drawing, alongside paintings and sculptures created both in her former Hong Kong studio and her new studio in Melbourne. These works are an accumulation of her perceptions over time, collected fragments of lived experiences. Inspired by the constantly changing structure of cities and considering the uncertainties of human perception in response to the built environment, Trevethan examines how we see, navigate, and record our experiences of urban spaces.
Through this exhibition, Trevethan explores feelings of disorientation and overwhelm associated with her return and maps conflicting emotions experienced while resettling in Australia. She explores how memories are carried with us, how they fragment and change over time; fitting together like puzzles which can collapse into tangled webs, reconfigured each time they come to mind.

Gentle Reminder immerses the viewer in a spatially ambiguous world, reflecting the dislocation of navigating our lived environment; both in-real-life and virtually through screens. It mirrors the changing perspectives that shape how we relate to our surroundings and references the often-overlooked systems that underpin our lives. The installation teases out how perceptions unfold and overlap and how our sense of home is carried with us, evolving as we travel from place to place. lt brings together works that consider the role of memory and the influence of technology on our sense of space, time, and colour. It is both an invitation to relate to, and be critical of, our surroundings, and a Gentle Reminder to find joy in the moment.