Family Matters

Meg Stoios, 2025, Oil on canvas, 91.5 x 122 cm

Family Matters is a collection of memories of feelings and imagery drawn from the artist’s grandparents’ house situated in the outskirts of Melbourne’s west in the 1990s.  Memories have been spliced to form a landscape that is both interior and exterior, reflecting both the domestic space and the cultural draw of surf culture in the 90s - the pull of the Great Ocean Road.

A double entendre, Family Matters is a meditation on the experience of coming together during a heavy family event – such as a death or major change in health or living arrangements within the family. The weight of the moment, and the compulsions of individuals to withdraw into either real or metaphorical outdoor escapes is countered by the sense of obligation and special feeling occasioned by gathered adult siblings.