Painting for me is a tool for experiencing a place. The land shapes people, but people also shape the land. Painting is a medium at the intersection of place and painter and these are understood to be mutually defining. This reciprocal relationship between individual and environment embraces the shifting appearances and interactions that occur over days and weeks.

My research centres around intersubjectivity and the the reciprocity of perception, ecology and the intelligence of natural processes and this informs my contemporary approach to pleinairism. While this is a personal and mediative practice, it is not authorial. It aims to be a witness to the agency of place in these times of ecological trouble.

In my practice, I am witness to the politics and legacies of the land: the ravages of colonialism, property and privilege, industry and gentrification. My landscape paintings are always about people, whether overtly in the subject matter (urban, rewilded, still life) or endangered forests and ecosystems in transition.

Instagram @jeremyherndl. Thank you for visiting.