400 Seagulls

400 Seagulls is a seascape painted on canvas, created in quiet commemoration of a significant moment in the history of the Abrolhos Islands.

Each seagull within the work represents a year, marking the 400th anniversary of the first recorded European sighting of the islands by Dutch navigator Frederick de Houtman in 1619. Together, the birds form a collective presence: individual yet unified, fleeting yet enduring.

This artwork was included in Batavia Unravelled, an exhibition curated by Emma Clare Bussell at the Geraldton Regional Art Gallery, drawing exclusively from the City of Greater Geraldton’s Art Collection. To see this work presented within a broader curatorial narrative, alongside other historically and culturally significant works held by the City - was deeply meaningful.

While grounded in history, 400 Seagulls is ultimately a work of reflection and remembrance. It holds both the vastness of time and the intimacy of presence, inviting the viewer to consider how stories, place, and memory continue to ripple through the present.