Pavement II - Chinese Landscape is part of Kayleigh’s solo exhibition ‘Soft Whispers of the City’, and is inspired by ideas of new materialism. Unlike traditional views that have an anthropocentric focus, new materialism explores a more balanced perspective of reality, giving equal importance to both human and nonhuman elements. Sensitively experimenting with mediums, Kayleigh veers from her iconic cement, wood and acrylic works to found objects and debris that she discovers on her solitary walks around Melbourne. Pavement II - Chinese Landscape portrays how, through her journey in a foreign place, she listened to the soft whispers of spaces and objects to find her way home. She shows a resolved rejection of hierarchical standards in fine art, by not using an expensive material such as oil paints, but instead more humble, down-to-earth materials such as graphite, Chinese ink and even city debris and rocks in her practice.

Through a focus on the materiality of natural things, she allows their earthy colours and textures to reveal themselves. They blur the boundaries between representation and reality by playing with the viewer’s vision; by contrasting the rocks against minimalist backgrounds of fine geometric lines, the artist creates an illusion of space and perspective. One gets lost in the spectrum of nature and architecture, organic and man-made. Kayleigh wishes the viewer to focus on the evolving history of the mediums, wherein rocks that have been seen as debris and symbols of anarchy from their original sites, now become objects that create room for space, contemplation and self-reflection of one’s relation to the city structure. Ultimately, the work evokes a sense of connection, balance, solitude—encouraging a deeper understanding of the city and its elements.