Kerry Servin has been contemplating various aspects of ageing lately; she has an elderly mother with a life-limiting illness, her family has lost a young loved one, and experienced age discrimination.
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The Loxton resident, aged 61, has channelled her thoughts and feelings around these events through little vignettes in her SALA 2023 exhibition Aspects of Ageing.
Among the images she'll present are a close up of an older person holding a baby's hands, an elephant carrying a human, an eye with a little baby reflected in it, and a portrait of Keith Richards.
Kerry's life is busy - she chases after her five grandchildren, works part time in her daughter's retail shop, has a partner, makes portrait pictures and mandalas, and her 90-year-old mother has dementia and lives in a nursing home.
Kerry has chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, a neurological disorder that results in slowly progressive weakness and loss of feeling in the legs and arms. Swimmer Michael Klim has it, as did the late Father Bob Maguire
Getting a diagnosis for Kerry took six months and attempts to seek help were overlooked because of her age and gender, making her feel invisible.
"For quite a while, doctors would say to me 'You're just getting older.' I thought, 'You can get older, but it doesn't mean you have to totally fall apart'," she said. Thankfully, rehab and monthly Intragam infusions have helped her regain mobility and strength. The invisibility and focusing on what she can do is presented in a portrait of a senior woman.
"It doesn't matter what age we are, and we can have lines and wrinkles and grey hair, but we can still have beauty and still have something to contribute," she said.
Kerry's mother inspired at least two paintings; one of a great grandparent holding great grandchild's hands - symbolically showing the passing down of information through generations - and another of an elephant using its tusks to carry a human.
"Often we tie the imagery of elephants to memory and the picture is about memories carrying us through sometimes - through good and bad things," Kerry said.
Both of Kerry's daughters entered relationships with the same pair of brothers. Sadly, one of the brothers died two years ago, aged 33.
"Some people don't get the chance to get old... they don't get that opportunity. That plays on my mind as well," she said.
"Don't take things for granted and just go with whatever life is giving you at the moment and do it." Having had grandchildren herself, she sees things through their eyes at times. She's painted a picture of an eye with a baby reflected in it.
"As adults we often sit back and reflect on our life and how we saw as a kid where we were going to be and what we were going to do, and it doesn't always play out how we imagined it. But also too, just looking at life through the reflection of my grandchildren as well, seeing what life is bringing for them."
Aside from portrait-style pictures, Kerry also enjoys making mandalas - a circular geometric design with repeated patterns, and are used in Hindu and Buddhist practices. Kerry started making her own about 10 years ago as a way to calm her mind while going through a hard time.
"I tend to focus on what is in front of me and block out other things. While you are focusing on the mandala and doing all the shapes and measuring everything out so it's all accurate and repeated the whole way around, you tend to block out other things. You just give your brain a little bit of a moment to calm down, and that's what I get from them."
She's made about 100 of them and some will be displayed in the exhibition.
Aspects of Ageing is at Frankie & Dandelion, 8 East Terrace, Loxton, until September 2. An artist talk will be held on Sunday, August 13 at noon.
Visit Kerry's Instagram page here for more information about her work.
For the full SALA festival program, click here or phone 08-7077-0011
