Light and Shade

Melinda Luscombe is an emerging contemporary Indigenous artist of Gomeroi descent, whose work reflects a deep appreciation for Australia’s native flora. Her first solo exhibition Light and Shade draws inspiration from the plants that have sustained her ancestors for thousands of years—both as food and medicine—and explores the enduring connection between Country, culture and the community.

Having relocated to Toowoomba more than two decades ago, Luscombe’s early years in the region were devoted primarily to family life, and her artistic practice remained largely private. Although creativity continued to inform her perspective, it was not until her family responsibilities eased that she was able to return to painting with sustained focus. This re-engagement marked a significant turning point: what began as a personal reconnection with creative expression soon developed into a rigorous and disciplined practice.

Central to Luscombe’s practice is an engagement with native Australian plants, understood not merely as botanical subjects but as living repositories of cultural knowledge. Her interest extends beyond their visual qualities to their practical and ceremonial uses within First Nations traditions. She explores their role in traditional food preparation, as well as their adaptation within contemporary and Western culinary contexts, highlighting the continuity and adaptability of Indigenous knowledge systems. The medicinal properties of these plants—alongside their nutritional value—form an important conceptual foundation for her work, underscoring their historical significance in sustaining both bodily health and community resilience. This connection is enacted in her daily life; for example, she works alongside her children to husk bunya nut pods, extracting and grinding the seeds into flour for family meals. Such acts operate simultaneously as cultural transmission and lived practice. While Luscombe does not position herself as a specialist or authority in ethnobotany, she identifies as an advocate for learning, experimentation and the reintegration of native plant use into contemporary life. Her paintings function as an invitation to reconsider these species not as peripheral or ornamental, but as integral to Australia’s ecological and cultural frameworks.

A defining formal characteristic of Luscombe’s work in Light and Shade is her commitment to a predominantly black and white palette. The deliberate removal of colour presents a technical and conceptual challenge: without chromatic cues, the artist must rely on form, tonal variation, texture and compositional balance to articulate depth and presence. The monochromatic approach also positions her practice in deliberate distinction from prevailing trends, reflecting her resistance to aesthetic conformity. By refusing the immediacy and emotive associations often attached to colour, Luscombe foregrounds structure and symbolism. The resulting works operate as bold abstractions from direct representation, distilling plant forms into timeless, emblematic presences. Through subtle gradations of black, white and grey, she constructs layered compositions in which intricate narrative backdrops frame and elevate specific species. Texture and shadow are used to convey materiality and depth, demanding close and sustained viewing. Through her work, she invites viewers to engage with the natural world in a meaningful way, fostering a greater understanding of the cultural knowledge embedded in these forms.