Sara Roberts

Sara Roberts, an accomplished painter with an MA in Visual Art from Sydney College of the Arts, bases her work on a deep appreciation of painterly traditions. Influenced by artists like Henri Rousseau, Henri Matisse, Pierre Bonnard, and contemporary artist Peter Doig, she creates paintings that blend nostalgia and whimsy. Her vivid colours and a seemingly naive perspective place her work within a long tradition of painting, translating subjects into poetic and romantic images open to viewer interpretation.

Roberts's multicultural upbringing in Mexico, France, Sweden, and Poland, along with feeling like an outsider even in her native Australia, informs her exploration of belonging and identity. Her brushstrokes reflect the dual nature of the Australian landscape—its sublime beauty juxtaposed with its unforgiving elements.

Sara invites viewers to transverse the real and imagined borderlands in each painting. Her art evolves through a fluid layering process, resulting in pieces that evoke nostalgia while capturing the essence of foreign landscapes and the human psyche. Roberts has also worked with notable institutions such as the Gallery of NSW and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney.