Artist Collab: Sophie May Taylor

We've had the honour of hosting Sophie May Taylor's Guardians of the Home collection in-store, and we couldn't be happier to be sharing our space with these beautiful beings for the next few months.

There's something really special about walking into the shop each morning and being greeted by Sophie's Guardians. They seem to quietly watch over the space, offering a gentle reminder to slow down, connect, and pay attention to the world around us.

Through paintings and ceramic works, Guardians of the Home explores connection to Country, ancestors, and the unseen forces that guide and protect us. It's a collection that invites reflection, ritual, and a deeper connection to place.

We sat down with Sophie to learn more about the stories, materials, and beliefs behind the work.

Come and experience the collection in person at the Brunswick Heads store, or read our conversation with Sophie below.

Can you tell us a little about yourself and the inspiration behind Guardians of the Home?

I'm a proud Gamilaraay woman, and I've been living on Bundjalung country for the past 12 years. I have created this work around connection to place and Country and the unseen world. It’s based in the belief that there are ancestors and Guardians wherever we go, not only the ones we carry along with us from our lineages, but also acknowledging the spirits in the waterways and in the land, in the trees, and animals.

My collection, Guardians of the Home, is all about that.

My hope for this collection is that it gives people a sense of connection to themselves and their own ancestors and guardians and the lands we live on. It’s something I believe we can all feel connected to if we’re willing to stop and listen and pay respect. 

Who are the guardians that appear throughout your work?

The way that I represent Guardians is a way that I've seen them since I was a kid, these long, lanky beings that kind of wrap you in their hands and arms in safety.

I've seen them in my dreams since I was a kid and I guess over the years it's kind of developed into this real thing for me. It's the way I see all that protects me.

I communicate with them every day, in quiet moments and in the chaotic ones too.

And through my work, I've been able to connect with them more and more.

The materials you use are an important part of your practice. Can you tell us about that?

In all of my paintings and all of my work, there is some element of earth. So in my paintings, I put ochre, sand or dirt into my paints. It’s to add texture but also add essence of Gunimaa, which is what we call Mother Earth in Gamilaraay language.

It translates into the hands that hold us. And that word, that meaning is really important to me.

That's, I guess, also why the sort of iconography of the hands in the Guardians is really important to me too.

It's how I visualise. Gunimaa, it's Mother Earth, it's what supports us and holds us and we need to pay our respects to her.

When I'm doing my ceramics, I try to use local clays and glazes wherever I can to keep that connection to place and Country.

When I go down to Country, Gamilaraay Country where my mum lives and all my mob, I collect little bits from Country there and infuse it into my work too.

So I guess there's always a significant reason behind what I add to my works and it all comes back down to respecting and paying acknowledgement to Gunimaa.

What do you hope people experience when they live with these works?

With Guardians of the Home, I've created artworks that are meant for everyday use in a ritualistic way, pieces to create ritual around in your daily life.

I want my work to be a little bit more than, you know, pretty picture on the wall. I wanted there to be sort of a deeper meaning and a remembering to take a moment, to recognise where you are, the Country you’re on, the rocks, the waterways, the trees.

Remember where you are, remember who's looking after you.

Your own ancestors, your own guardians, and take a little second for yourself too, just to remember that, you know, you are protected.

How do you imagine people interacting with the work?

So with the pieces I have created, say if it's a painting, they are to be put up in the home and then talked to or interacted with and made into a bit of a daily ritual.

So, as you're leaving your home, you could make it a habit to say, "Thank you Guardian for protecting the home while I'm away" or whatever it is, but it's just a little vehicle and a little exercise, I guess, to remember to talk to the things that are protecting you in your journey.

And the same with the mugs and the fruit bowls that I've created.

Just little things that you can create a ritual around and little moments of remembering and connecting to yourself and to Country and to your ancestors and guardians. Every piece comes with a Guardian ritual card that I’ve created, that have little prompts on how you could create ritual and connection around each piece.

Atmosea Collaboration Tee: 

‘Guardians’ by Sophie Taylor Artist Tee

100% Organic Cotton Jersey

Please view more of Sophie's work here.