Matthew Harris, Exodus, 2023, ochre, charcoal and acrylic on hessian, 153.00 x 198.00 x 2.50 cm, TCG22961
(photo: Christo Crocker)

Exodus is a pretty generic looking road. It could be anywhere and I’m no good at realism or perspective, that’s not important. It’s the road out, it’s being displaced, a mass departure, it’s crossing the country or even the whole world and leaving the place you’ve always been. Cue On The Road Again by Willie Nelson, it’s time to move on. The Hume Highway as it’s now known began in the 1830s as the colonial frontier pushed deeper into the country, many of the towns along the highway were established to provide a ‘safe corridor’ for early settlers and their stock. First you build the road, then you build the town. If you build it, they will come. —Matthew Harris