keep swimming

KEEP SWIMMING

Keep Swimming is an original contemporary abstract painting exploring perseverance, resilience, healing and our connection to the living world. Created in 2025 as part of a series of eight paintings, the work was exhibited in my solo exhibition Je bulle librement at Coffs Central Gallery, Australia, in December 2025.

The composition evokes an immense aquatic landscape, where distances can sometimes feel overwhelming. Across the surface, a delicate trail of tiny white bubbles creates a continuous path through the painting. These bubbles suggest connections — fragile yet persistent links to other forms of life encountered along the way. They become a quiet reminder that even when the distance ahead seems immense, we keep moving: keep swimming.

Created with natural pigments sourced from Gumbaynggirr Country, Australia, and France, together with Australian clay and acrylic, the work connects perseverance with healing. Moving forward is not simply an act of strength or determination. The journey also involves repair, adaptation and renewal — a gradual process of finding the resources to continue.

Layers of blue, turquoise and mineral tones create an organic, textured surface reminiscent of water, currents and weathered landscapes. The natural pigments and clay interact across the canvas, leaving traces that reinforce the sense of movement and transformation. The small bubbles travelling through this mineral landscape introduce another essential element: connection to the living world, even across seemingly immense distances.

Keep Swimming is a one-of-a-kind contemporary abstract painting about continuing despite uncertainty and the scale of the journey ahead. It celebrates the quiet persistence required to move forward while recognising the connections, encounters and forms of healing that sustain us along the way.

• Title: Keep Swimming
• Year: 2025
• Dimensions: 44 × 44 × 3 cm (17.3 × 17.3 × 1.2 in)
• Medium: Natural pigments from Gumbaynggirr Country and France, Australian clay and acrylic on canvas
• Series: Je bulle librement — series of eight original paintings
• Exhibited: Je bulle librement, solo exhibition, Coffs Central Gallery, Australia, December 2025
• Framing: Framed and ready to hang
• Original artwork: One-of-a-kind painting, signed by Janet Besançon