Chances are if you’ve seen it, you’ve tilted your head to get a better look at Martina Carney’s most popular piece.
The End of the World is the Novocastrian artist’s most talked about photograph.
The iconic image of a tugboat pulling a tanker, juxtaposed with the Stockton Ferry, appearing to be on the cusp of cascading into each other, is eye-catching to say the least.
“Nothing in that image is as it seems,” Martina says.
“It is all an illusion. It is a collection of my images put in a new perspective, but they are all mine.”
Part of the attraction of the image lies in its local identity, Martina says.
“Novocastrians like photos of scenes they know. They like to be familiar with what they are looking at.
“In this image, they know the scene, but it has been altered.
“When I display it at the markets and I see people tilting their heads, I know which picture they are looking at straight away.”
Martina’s artwork features regularly at the city’s Homegrown Markets.
She also currently has work in an exhibition at the Museum of Art and Culture Lake Macquarie.
Her unique images are the combination of her paintings and photography, which together with digital programming, create unique fantasy perspective art.
Her business ‘The Hunter’s Smallest Mobile Art Gallery’ is believed to be the only one of its kind in the country.
Originally from Berlin, the self-taught artist came to Australia 11 years ago and has lived in Lake Macquarie for eight years.
Having converted a trailer she bought on Gumtree in August 2019, she now travels across the Hunter with the creations she says are the result of trial and error.
“I try to recreate the story in my head,” she says.
“I go to the location, take the photos, go to the computer and mix them up.
“Sometimes it works and sometimes it does not.”
