The West Australian Pulse 2025: Meet some of the artists, and explore the big ideas, of their entries

Brodie Rowand should be preparing for the trip of a lifetime. In an alternate universe the 17-year-old would be cramming a suitcase with summery outfits, organising farewell catch-ups and triple- checking that her passport is in date. But the former St Hilda’s Anglican School for Girls student’s future was put on pause when her travel partner and close friend Stella Berry was killed by a bull shark in the Swan River on February 4, 2023. Rowand hadn’t always enjoyed school; she often found it difficult to stay focused in her classes. What she loved about it, though, were her French lessons with Berry. In the back of the classroom the two would concoct grand plans to fly to France together after graduating. “We did French together from year six to year 10 (Berry moved schools in year 10) and we weren’t always the most attentive students — but we had so much fun in that class,” Rowand reflects. “We’d talk about how we wanted to go to France for university or a trip to explore. She (Berry) was going to bar-tend and I was going to work in a cafe and we’d paint and go surfing. Whether that would have happened, who knows, but it was fun to talk about at the back of the French room.” In the years since Berry’s death Rowand has felt restless and unable to move past her grief. As a way to process big life moments Rowand had long turned to art, describing it as her “own little therapy”. So with a brush in her hand and oil paints nearby, she began to paint through her feelings. “Grief is a weird and wacky thing,” she says. “It was so contradictory because I didn’t want to do anything, or talk about anything else. I didn’t want to move on . . . but I can’t sit too still and actually let it all sink in.” The result of working through her heartache is Ruby Reverie, Rowand’s striking entry in this year’s The West Australian Pulse exhibition. Now in its 33rd year, the annual Art Gallery of Western Australia exhibition showcases the works of Year 12 visual arts graduates. After attracting almost 300 entries, the pieces were shortlisted down to 61 works from 37 schools across the State. Each work reveals the inner workings of each student’s mind and provides insight into what is important to them, what keeps them up at night or what they’re passionate about. The theme for Rowand’s piece was wanderlust — defined as a strong urge to travel — a concept that she didn’t know how to explore without acknowledging her connection with Berry and the constant reminder that she was no longer just a text away. “Throughout the whole of year 12, and the closer I got to graduation, the closer I actually came to the realisation that she hadn’t moved away, she wasn’t going to be there, and that was really bittersweet,” Rowand says. Rowand’s art teacher pointed her in the direction of Adriane Strampp’s Cornucopia, a series which highlighted the historical significance of dresses for women in transitional moments of their lives such as births, christenings, weddings and funerals. “What I really liked about what she did was she used an empty silhouette, they never adorned a woman’s body, which I thought was pretty cool,” Rowand says. “That encapsulated how it was draped as if it was on someone, but that person isn’t there. The dress in my piece was my own year 12 dress so it was my own transitional piece.” Rowand wasn’t the only student to spill a life-changing experience onto the canvas. This year’s cohort of talented young artists unpacked an element of self — be it their culture, racial equality, mental health or loss — within their pieces. Self-portrait was a particularly popular and powerful means to do this, with both Tommy Petkovich and Joseph Radford putting themselves front and centre to reflect an intense personal struggle. Given Radford’s choice of jumper at the special STM shoot, and the vibrant pop in his work Untitled, it came as no surprise that red is his favourite colour. The Ocean Reef Senior High School graduate, now a fashion student, says he incorporated the tone as well as frayed edges of fabric to symbolise his anger and frustration towards a society that excludes him. The piece, much like Radford himself, reflects the duality of wanting to stand out — mirrored through the spiked hairstyle (which took a lot of gel to make work for his reference shot), bold colour and use of safety pins — with the desire to camouflage in the fear of being demonised or ridiculed for simply being himself. “I wanted to combine alternative punk, edgy, aggressive and messy aesthetics but display them in a more feminine and beautiful way to sort of emphasise gender stereotypes — what is feminine and what is masculine — and why are some people judged for dressing ‘differently’,” he says. Radford draws inspiration — and reassurance — from the world’s rebellious and rule-breaking fashion icons like Vivienne Westwood and Rick Owens, who personify the idea that it’s OK to stand out, especially through fashion. He hopes to turn his passion into a career as a costume or fashion designer, or an illustrator. In the meantime Radford is setting himself smaller goals; the first, being selected as a Pulse entrant. Tick. While Radford always knew he wanted to make the Pulse shortlist — admitting he didn’t always apply himself at school, but threw his heart into his entry — Petkovich’s labour-intensive portrait was a dash to the finish line. Burden Of The Invisible consists of intricate coloured pencil work as well as the use of gouache (a water-based paint) and took six months to draw, including a final slog from 11am to 5am the day it was due for completion. The result viscerally captures the mental health struggles the former John Curtin College of the Arts student endured in year 11, with Petkovich’s portrait placing him in the corner of the 1.4m tall piece while gruesome shapes pulsate behind him. He says the surrealist creature behind his head — inspired by the works of Salvador Dali and Hieronymus Bosch — is intended to represent the nightmarish thoughts that screamed for attention during his struggles. Though the work reflects Petkovich’s personal battle, his hope is that it resonates with anyone who is navigating their own challenges. “I hope when people see it they’re surprised, terrified in a way, but also realise what it means,” he says. “They realise that there is a human in there, trying to ignore it and look away.” While Pulse has been a means to nurture and platform the talent of Western Australia’s youth for the past three decades, it is equally impactful for the patrons who visit the exhibition. Pulse’s young artists have used their work as a powerful lens through which to redefine the broader societal issues currently shaping their world in the hope those who visit the exhibition are open to seeing it and interpreting their message in their own way. With her striking piece A Spectrum — as seen on STM’s special Pulse cover — Celeste Bastian aimed to open her audience’s eyes to the sentiment at its core, and one close to her heart. “I have a lot of neurodivergent friends and a lot of the time, especially in the media, as soon as someone finds out that you’re neurodivergent they suddenly treat you differently,” says the Perth Waldorf School graduate. “It dulls down how special they are and how they should be treated as special as anyone else. “So that’s why I called it A Spectrum, because there is a variety of different neurodiversity types and traits and because of all the different colours it fits very well as someone who doesn’t know their place on the spectrum.” In addition to the free exhibition, there are a series of events running across the program. There will be a chance to meet the artists as well as a runway art fashion parade and a Makers Market in partnership with the Second Life Markets team. Head of learning and creativity research at AGWA Lilly Blue says the pieces this year, such as Bastian’s, illustrate the insight and empathy of a generation unafraid to confront complexity with both vulnerability and fearless imagination. “From a beautifully rendered deflating gold foil balloon painted in oils to the rusting bonnet of a 1977 FJ45 Landcruiser this year’s work speaks to the pressure of expectations, the fragility of tradition, the power of protest, and the bittersweet experience of growing up,” she says. This emphasis on emotion and connection has been central to Pulse since its inception, and is reflected in what Bastian hopes people take away from her work. It’s a powerful message and a reminder that the next generation have big ideas and impressive talent to match. “I hope my audience is reminded of how special they are,” Bastian says. “How brilliant, talented, unique and beautiful people they are because that’s what matters — being yourself, not falling in line and being like everyone else.” The West Australian Pulse 2025 runs from May 3 to August 31

The West Australian Pulse 2025: Meet some of the artists, and explore the big ideas, of their entries

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