Amy Dynan: Statement

"I use the framework of beauty to explore the relationship between humanity and nature. My large-scale pastel paintings merge photorealism with abstract sensibilities to document moments of sublimity, transition and fragility in nature. The dynamics of light and dark work as a metaphor for the opposing forces in nature and in ourselves, creating landscapes that hover between land and sky, material and ethereal.

For me, drawing is a lens through which the spectrum of our existence is revealed, and a means to marvel at how lucky we are to feel it fully. To this end my work documents nature in flux and celebrates the beauty of what we stand to lose.”  

Sydney Contemporary '25 - 'Flight of the Sirens'

Amy Dynan brings her unique vision to Sydney Contemporary with Flight of the Sirens, a new body of work presented by Stanley Street Gallery. This evocative series reimagines the mythological siren as a meditation on transformation, freedom, and the untamed human spirit.

In Flight of the Sirens, viewers are invited to see through the eyes of the siren in flight. Large-scale pastel paintings— dramatic in scope and saturated in colour—unfold as emotional cartographies, mapping thresholds between inner and outer worlds, the seen and unseen. Shaped by longing, liberation, and the quiet reclamation of emotional space, these works hold both stillness and wildness at once.

Rooted in ancient Greek mythology, sirens were once seen not as mermaids, but as enigmatic, half-bird, half-woman figures whose songs spoke of deep knowledge and transcendence. Over centuries, the siren was recast as a symbol of danger and seduction. Here, she is reclaimed as an archetype of the feminine psyche in transition—a rising into sovereignty.

Dynan’s visual language resists the urge to resolve light against shadow. Instead, her works allow beauty and longing, light and shadow, to coexist—mirroring life’s own tensions. Her mastery of pastel reaches new heights in this series: pigments are layered, luminous, and immersive, evoking vast aerial seascapes that are at once expansive and deeply intimate.

At its heart, Flight of the Sirens is a celebration of perspective. It invites us to look not with fear, but with wonder and courage. In reclaiming the siren’s gaze, Dynan offers a potent symbol of liberation, transcendence, and connection to the wild, ever-changing forces within and around us.

Amy holds a Master of Contemporary Art and Master of Fine Arts from The University of Sydney. Amy has been
a finalist in numerous prizes including the Dobell Drawing Prize, Adelaide Perry Drawing Prize, JADA Art Prize and John Leslie Landscape Prize, and has been selected for residencies in France, Norway, Hill End, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Tweed Regional Gallery and Bundanon Trust (William Fletcher Scholarship).

Represented by Stanley Street Gallery since 2014, Dynan has presented four solo exhibitions; Flight of the Sirens (2025), Sublime (2023), Skytalk (2021) and Water (2019).