Salvation | Ella Baudinet

I created this artwork at a pivotal moment in my life, as I left my world in Melbourne to embark on a new journey in London. Last year, during my solo exhibition in London, I met the man of my dreams. I felt every aspect of my life pulling me overseas, and I honoured that calling. This piece was already in my mind as my next project, and I pictured it in a large scale, reflecting the enormity of the shift I was about to undertake. However, the only space capable of housing such a large piece was my old studio in Melbourne, as my new studio in London couldn’t fit creations of this magnitude. I spent the following months creating Salvation whilst simultaneously packing up my life in the city I had called home for the past 11 years. Salvation became a painting about death – not literal, but metaphorical. The end of one chapter and the beginning of another. The death of my former life. Along with the shedding of old habits, behaviours, beliefs, and values that no longer served me. The release from limiting belief systems. It is also a symbol of rebirth: the manifestation of dreams and the materialisation of all that I had envisioned. I find this painting to be incredibly romantic, seductive, and daring. When I meditated on my future life, this is the essence of the feelings/colours that were shown to me. It embodies the idea that the greater the risk, the greater the reward.