Creative collab lights up life

TWO Bendigo women have united on a project exploring the dark underside of everyday life.

Mary Pomfret and Julie Andrews launched Bouquet of Traps last weekend, and it’s a book made up of Pomfret’s words and Andrews’ illustrations.

Pomfret said the project came about after casual chats between the two friends about art and life, leading to a fuss free partnership.

“Collaboration with another creative is at its best when you ‘get’ each other,” she said.

“It is like that with Julie and I. Very little explanation is needed. We have a type of intuitive understanding of each other and our individual work.

“Often you find your best creative self in that tonal space between you and someone else, sharing ideas and insights.

“Someone else’s perspective and creative input is a gift in terms of the creative process.”

Andrews said her drawings were created in response to Pomfret’s writing, and she was inspired solely by the prose.

“Some of them, as I read it there was something in there that was the image I knew I would follow up on,” she said.

“Some of them took a little bit longer, I had to read them a few times. They affect you, so it was one of those things where I sat with them.”

Andrews’ Dudley House exhibition, Liminal Landscapes, provided a backdrop for the event attended by fellow creatives, which she said brought the book to life.

“It means that we fill the space with creativity of poets, writers and the general community of art and we’re coming back together after COVID.”