Cristina Metelli

Born in Milan, Italy, Cristina studied at art school as a teenager before immigrating to Adelaide, where she continued her artistic education, earning a Bachelor Degree in Visual Art (First Class Honours) from Adelaide Central School of Art.

Her practice is based on abstract paintings inspired by her profound connection with the natural landscape, exploring themes of belonging, spirit of place, and nature’s vulnerability. By merging her passion for natural sciences and psychology, she investigates how people can be positively affected by their interactions with nature.

’I spend as much time as possible walking in nature, connecting to the land and everything in it. While walking helps my body, nature soothes my mind, and keeps me in the present moment. The feeling of being embraced by nature is nurturing and invigorating - it helps me feel connected to the world. When in the studio, through an intuitive process, I begin depicting feelings experienced in the natural landscape through the material qualities of paint. Gestural paint applications and colour relationship are used to express my emotional response through sensations of tension and release.’

Since 2003 Cristina has exhibited in art galleries in South Australia and interstate. Her light-projection work ‘Within The Landscape’ was featured in the 2022 Illuminate Adelaide Festival. She was winner of the AGES Art Prize 2021/22, QLD, was a featured artist at the 2020 Adelaide International Airport ‘Art at T1’ exhibition, has been a three-time finalist in the Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize, South Australian Museum, and three-times finalist in the Heysen Art Prize, Hahndorf Academy, SA. Her work has been selected to be part of the Fleurieu Biennale (Artists of the Fleurieu), Adelaide Park Lands Art Prize and Emma Hack Art Prize.