Origins Reclaimed Through Line and Intention
A practice shaped by interruption, resilience, and return defines the work of Senescence, an artist whose life has moved between disciplines that are often kept separate. Born in Adelaide, Australia, they began drawing in black and white pencil during childhood, developing a quiet but persistent relationship with image making long before art became a profession. That early engagement with drawing was informal, intuitive, and rooted in observation rather than theory. At eighteen, they entered the visual arts industry, working within commercial graphic arts where clarity, efficiency, and communication were essential. Those early professional years established a strong technical foundation while also placing creative expression within the constraints of client driven outcomes. Even at this stage, visual language served as a tool for conveying meaning rather than decoration, a priority that would later define their personal work. This early period matters not simply as a beginning, but as a reference point, because it represents an unguarded relationship with drawing that Senescence would eventually reclaim under vastly different circumstances.
The trajectory of Senescence’s life soon expanded beyond the arts into academic and medical fields, introducing new ways of seeing the human form and condition. After working in commercial design, they completed a degree in psychology, followed by a medical degree, ultimately specializing in surgical and medical anatomy. Teaching anatomy at the University of Adelaide and later the University of Melbourne, they spent more than fifteen years immersed in the study of the body as both structure and system. This role required precision, repetition, and an intimate understanding of variation, as no two bodies present identically. Daily engagement with future surgeons and medical students reinforced the importance of accuracy, but also highlighted the fragility and adaptability of the human form. Over time, this knowledge became deeply embedded, shaping how Senescence understood embodiment, difference, and survival. Although art was absent from their personal life during these years, visual thinking never disappeared, instead being redirected into diagrams, explanations, and teaching strategies grounded in clarity and care.
A profound turning point arrived when illness interrupted what had seemed like a settled professional life. After more than a decade in academia, and just before the birth of their daughter, Senescence was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour alongside other serious health concerns. The diagnosis made a return to teaching impossible, bringing their medical career to an abrupt and painful halt. In the aftermath, drawing re emerged not as a hobby, but as a necessity. Having not produced personal artwork for over twenty years, and never outside commercial contexts, they returned to pencil and paper with a vastly expanded inner landscape. This return was not nostalgic, but transformative, combining lived experience, medical knowledge, and psychological insight into a renewed visual practice. The significance of this moment lies in its circularity, as the artist did not simply resume making art, but rebuilt their creative identity with an urgency shaped by time, health, and responsibility.
