Rubber duck going to church

This work playfully reimagines the romanticised landscapes of Patricia Herd—specifically her painting St John's Camden—through a lens of irreverent surrealism. In the background, the unmistakable silhouette of St John's Anglican Church anchors the scene, echoing Herd’s devotion to capturing Australia’s architectural and spiritual heritage. However, in this iteration, the sacred meets the absurd: a giant rubber duck floats serenely in the river, disrupting the otherwise idyllic 19th-century pastoral setting.

This juxtaposition is not mere parody. It invites viewers to reconsider the constructed solemnity often embedded in traditional landscape painting. The duck, a banal and mass-produced object of play, becomes a symbol of contemporary visual clutter—cheekily inserted into a tableau of national memory. The inclusion of modern kitsch within a classical composition acts as both homage and critique, questioning the role of nostalgia in shaping cultural narratives.

By referencing Herd’s St John's Camden, the artwork anchors itself in a tradition of Australian landscape painting while simultaneously breaking it open. It challenges the viewer to consider what is sacred, what is absurd, and what happens when the two collide.