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Interviews

Memory and moment through collage with Robert Lee Davis

In his layered, personal collages, Melbourne-based artist Robert Lee Davis transforms materials into whimsical landscapes of memory and place. From seed pods to postcards, Robert’s mixed media works ask us to look closer, not just at art, but at the world around us. This episode explores personal archives in the form of pictures, books and music, and the power of preserving story through collage.

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Listen or watch on your favourite platform:

Robert Lee Davis - Friday Feature Artist

Host: Nicola Rough

Show Notes

In his layered, personal collages, Melbourne-based artist Robert Lee Davis transforms materials into whimsical landscapes of memory and place. From seed pods to postcards, Robert’s mixed media works ask us to look closer, not just at art, but at the world around us. This episode explores personal archives in the form of pictures, books and music, and the power of preserving story through collage.


All of these bits and pieces make up our landscape. I’m trying to present the world through a lens of memory – a chance to still be still and take it all in.

- Robert Lee Davis


Takeaways from this episode


  • Art is memory, held together with care.
    Robert’s collages aren’t just visual – they’re vessels for lived experience. Each element is a fragment of time, a remnant of place, or a whisper of someone loved. What memories might you preserve through your creative work?

  • The artist’s role is to witness.
    For Robert, artists are barometers of culture – storytellers for the emotional weather of our time. His work reflects grief, resilience, hope and history, inviting us to feel deeply and remember widely.

  • Beauty and complexity coexist.
    A flower blooming from a brick wall. A butterfly stamped on essential medicine. A cookbook turned canvas. In Robert’s hands, contradictions become poetry – a reminder that even broken things can hold light.

  • Slowness is a kind of listening.
    Whether painting seed pods in honour of memories past, or building landscapes of places to come, Robert’s process is one of reverence. How might you slow down and honour your own creativity?

  • To create is to connect.
    Through workshops, commissions, and public art, Robert offers others the chance to embed their own memories into art. Creativity, he reminds us, is not just self-expression – it’s an act of community.

 

Explore the artwork from this episode below

During the live interview, we shared some images of Roberts’s artwork. Since you’re listening to the podcast version, we’ve made some images available for you below.

Join the conversation

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