Evocative of the Vanitas tradition of the Dutch Masters of the Baroque period (c.1585-1730), in “The Navigator” Robyn pays tribute to her father, a master mariner. She incorporates the sextant he used to navigate around the globe, with it’s original box, a series of leather-bound antique books from the 1800s handed down through the family – Charles Dickens’ “David Copperfield” and Strickland’s “Queens of England” – along with a magnifying glass and skull, all sitting upon a red velvet stole from her maternal grandmother. Intricately detailed symbols of life and death remind us of our pursuits within the fleeting nature of our mortal existence and the vanity of living. Bone, glass, brass, timber, twine, paper, leather and fabric are all rendered in exquisite detail.

Robyn created this work as part of a series of Vanitas pieces for the “Cabinet of Curiosities” show at The Stockroom Gallery in Clifton Hill, curated by Melika Davies.