Ray Monde
What the Wayfarer Saw
Ray Monde

What the Wayfarer Saw
18 mar. — 29 apr. 2022
18 mar. — 29 apr. 2022
Image: Ray Monde, Cradle of yellow buttons (detail), 2021, overpainted paper and synthetic polymer paint on canvas. Image courtesy the artist.
Image: Ray Monde, Cradle of yellow buttons (detail), 2021, overpainted paper and synthetic polymer paint on canvas. Image courtesy the artist.
Ray Monde
What the Wayfarer Saw
18 mar. — 29 apr. 2022
Ray Monde has had a lifelong obsession with paper. Growing up on his family’s farm near Taree, he would meticulously cut out images from glossy magazines and arrange them into vignettes and collages on his bedroom wall.
After a successful career in advertising in Sydney, London and New York, Monde returned to his artistic practice. Monde’s primary technique involves hand-tearing and over-painting fragments of paper sourced from magazines. These elements are layered into detailed compositions that speak to the artist’s relationship with the physical and emotional landscapes that surround him.
The artist’s most recent body of work, What the Wayfarer Saw, charts his 86 kilometre journey on foot from Goulburn to Braidwood over six days, sleeping by the roadside, in pubs and country homes along the way. The measured and slow pace of walking allowed the artist to deeply connect with people and place.
This ‘beautiful and brutal’ journey brought to the fore the artist’s personal experience of queerness within the framework of regional Australia and involved a process of vulnerability, exchange and openness.
Underpinning the work is a Homeric narrative, revealing insightful perceptions of home after a long time away. Monde described the pilgrimage, ‘like Odysseus in Homer’s epic poem, I encountered obstacles and setbacks, met strangers along the way and was tempted off course.’
Monde lives and works between Braidwood, Australia and Seattle, United States of America. This exhibition is the artist’s first major solo exhibition at a public gallery. Monde has exhibited widely and his works are held in collections in Australia and internationally. He works across a variety of mediums including collage, drawing, painting and multimedia.
Related Events
Studio tour with Ray Monde, live on Instagram
Collage workshop for adults with Ray Monde
Sketching en plein air with Ray Monde at the Wetlands
Ray Monde and Yvette Dal Pozzo in conversation
Ray Monde 'What the Wayfarer Saw', Rosalind Lemoh and Helen Stephens



















19
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring introductory text and Ray Monde, A hotel with no doors, 2021. Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring introductory text, Ray Monde, A hotel with no doors, 2021, Ray Monde, Rain thundering from the darkening sky, 2021, Ray Monde, A sightless eye with Gustav close by, 2021 and Ray Monde, Vignettes, 2021 (detail). Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring Ray Monde, A hotel with no doors, 2021, Ray Monde, Rain thundering from the darkening sky, 2021, Ray Monde, A sightless eye with Gustav close by, 2021, Ray Monde, Thistle and Hawthorn against a field of ravens, 2021, Ray Monde, Wanderers by the Holy Cross, 2021 and Ray Monde, Vignettes, 2021 (detail). Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring Ray Monde, Rain thundering from the darkening sky, 2021, Ray Monde, A sightless eye with Gustav close by, 2021, Ray Monde, Thistle and Hawthorn against a field of ravens, 2021, Ray Monde, Wanderers by the Holy Cross, 2021 and Ray Monde, Vignettes, 2021. Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring Ray Monde, A sightless eye with Gustav close by, 2021, Ray Monde, Thistle and Hawthorn against a field of ravens, 2021, Ray Monde, Wanderers by the Holy Cross, 2021. Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring A sightless eye with Gustav close by, 2021,(detail) Ray Monde, Thistle and Hawthorn against a field of ravens, 2021, Ray Monde, Wanderers by the Holy Cross, 2021, Ray Monde, The welcoming gate, 2021, Ray Monde, The knowing eye of the ravens, 2021, Ray Monde, Places bent to our will, 2021, Ray Monde, A hallowed cross, 2021, Ray Monde, The moon as a lonely companion, 2021, Ray Monde, Beast of glory, 2021, Ray Monde, A new day for everyone, 2021, Ray Monde, A cradle of yellow buttons, 2021 (detail) and Ray Monde, Vignettes, 2021. Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring Ray Monde, Vignettes, 2021 (detail). Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring Ray Monde, Vignettes, 2021 (detail). Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring Ray Monde, Vignettes, 2021 (detail). Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring Ray Monde, Vignettes, 2021 (detail). Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring Ray Monde, Vignettes, 2021 (detail). Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring Ray Monde, The welcoming gate, 2021, Ray Monde, The knowing eye of the ravens, 2021, Ray Monde, Places bent to our will, 2021, Ray Monde, A hallowed cross, 2021, Ray Monde, The moon as a lonely companion, 2021, Ray Monde, Beast of glory, 2021, Ray Monde, A new day for everyone, 2021, and Ray Monde, Vignettes, 2021 (detail). Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring Ray Monde, The welcoming gate, 2021, Ray Monde, The knowing eye of the ravens, 2021, Ray Monde, Places bent to our will, 2021, Ray Monde, A hallowed cross, 2021, Ray Monde, The moon as a lonely companion, 2021, Ray Monde, Beast of glory, 2021,(detail). Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring Ray Monde, The moon as a lonely companion, 2021, Ray Monde, Beast of glory, 2021, Ray Monde, A new day for everyone, 2021. Photograph: Silversalt Photography
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring Ray Monde, A new day for everyone, 2021, Ray Monde, A cradle of yellow buttons, 2021, Ray Monde, A River of Whispers, 2021 and Ray Monde, Wayfarer, 2021, Collection of the Artist. Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring Ray Monde, The moon as a lonely companion, 2021, Ray Monde, Beast of glory, 2021, Ray Monde, A new day for everyone, 2021, Ray Monde, A cradle of yellow buttons, 2021, Ray Monde, A River of Whispers, 2021 and Ray Monde, Vignettes, 2021 (detail). Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring Ray Monde, A new day for everyone, 2021,(detail), Ray Monde, A cradle of yellow buttons, 2021, Ray Monde, A River of Whispers, 2021 (detail) and Ray Monde, Vignettes, 2021 (detail). Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring Ray Monde, A cradle of yellow buttons, 2021, and Ray Monde, A River of Whispers, 2021. Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring Ray Monde, A River of Whispers, 2021 and Ray Monde, Wayfarer, 2021, Collection of the Artist. Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Image: Ray Monde, Cradle of yellow buttons (detail), 2021, overpainted paper and synthetic polymer paint on canvas. Image courtesy the artist.
Ray Monde
What the Wayfarer Saw
18 mar. — 29 apr. 2022
Ray Monde has had a lifelong obsession with paper. Growing up on his family’s farm near Taree, he would meticulously cut out images from glossy magazines and arrange them into vignettes and collages on his bedroom wall.
After a successful career in advertising in Sydney, London and New York, Monde returned to his artistic practice. Monde’s primary technique involves hand-tearing and over-painting fragments of paper sourced from magazines. These elements are layered into detailed compositions that speak to the artist’s relationship with the physical and emotional landscapes that surround him.
The artist’s most recent body of work, What the Wayfarer Saw, charts his 86 kilometre journey on foot from Goulburn to Braidwood over six days, sleeping by the roadside, in pubs and country homes along the way. The measured and slow pace of walking allowed the artist to deeply connect with people and place.
This ‘beautiful and brutal’ journey brought to the fore the artist’s personal experience of queerness within the framework of regional Australia and involved a process of vulnerability, exchange and openness.
Underpinning the work is a Homeric narrative, revealing insightful perceptions of home after a long time away. Monde described the pilgrimage, ‘like Odysseus in Homer’s epic poem, I encountered obstacles and setbacks, met strangers along the way and was tempted off course.’
Monde lives and works between Braidwood, Australia and Seattle, United States of America. This exhibition is the artist’s first major solo exhibition at a public gallery. Monde has exhibited widely and his works are held in collections in Australia and internationally. He works across a variety of mediums including collage, drawing, painting and multimedia.
Related Events
Studio tour with Ray Monde, live on Instagram
Collage workshop for adults with Ray Monde
Sketching en plein air with Ray Monde at the Wetlands
Ray Monde and Yvette Dal Pozzo in conversation
Ray Monde 'What the Wayfarer Saw', Rosalind Lemoh and Helen Stephens



















19
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring introductory text and Ray Monde, A hotel with no doors, 2021. Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring introductory text, Ray Monde, A hotel with no doors, 2021, Ray Monde, Rain thundering from the darkening sky, 2021, Ray Monde, A sightless eye with Gustav close by, 2021 and Ray Monde, Vignettes, 2021 (detail). Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring Ray Monde, A hotel with no doors, 2021, Ray Monde, Rain thundering from the darkening sky, 2021, Ray Monde, A sightless eye with Gustav close by, 2021, Ray Monde, Thistle and Hawthorn against a field of ravens, 2021, Ray Monde, Wanderers by the Holy Cross, 2021 and Ray Monde, Vignettes, 2021 (detail). Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring Ray Monde, Rain thundering from the darkening sky, 2021, Ray Monde, A sightless eye with Gustav close by, 2021, Ray Monde, Thistle and Hawthorn against a field of ravens, 2021, Ray Monde, Wanderers by the Holy Cross, 2021 and Ray Monde, Vignettes, 2021. Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring Ray Monde, A sightless eye with Gustav close by, 2021, Ray Monde, Thistle and Hawthorn against a field of ravens, 2021, Ray Monde, Wanderers by the Holy Cross, 2021. Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring A sightless eye with Gustav close by, 2021,(detail) Ray Monde, Thistle and Hawthorn against a field of ravens, 2021, Ray Monde, Wanderers by the Holy Cross, 2021, Ray Monde, The welcoming gate, 2021, Ray Monde, The knowing eye of the ravens, 2021, Ray Monde, Places bent to our will, 2021, Ray Monde, A hallowed cross, 2021, Ray Monde, The moon as a lonely companion, 2021, Ray Monde, Beast of glory, 2021, Ray Monde, A new day for everyone, 2021, Ray Monde, A cradle of yellow buttons, 2021 (detail) and Ray Monde, Vignettes, 2021. Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring Ray Monde, Vignettes, 2021 (detail). Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring Ray Monde, Vignettes, 2021 (detail). Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring Ray Monde, Vignettes, 2021 (detail). Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring Ray Monde, Vignettes, 2021 (detail). Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring Ray Monde, Vignettes, 2021 (detail). Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring Ray Monde, The welcoming gate, 2021, Ray Monde, The knowing eye of the ravens, 2021, Ray Monde, Places bent to our will, 2021, Ray Monde, A hallowed cross, 2021, Ray Monde, The moon as a lonely companion, 2021, Ray Monde, Beast of glory, 2021, Ray Monde, A new day for everyone, 2021, and Ray Monde, Vignettes, 2021 (detail). Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring Ray Monde, The welcoming gate, 2021, Ray Monde, The knowing eye of the ravens, 2021, Ray Monde, Places bent to our will, 2021, Ray Monde, A hallowed cross, 2021, Ray Monde, The moon as a lonely companion, 2021, Ray Monde, Beast of glory, 2021,(detail). Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring Ray Monde, The moon as a lonely companion, 2021, Ray Monde, Beast of glory, 2021, Ray Monde, A new day for everyone, 2021. Photograph: Silversalt Photography
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring Ray Monde, A new day for everyone, 2021, Ray Monde, A cradle of yellow buttons, 2021, Ray Monde, A River of Whispers, 2021 and Ray Monde, Wayfarer, 2021, Collection of the Artist. Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring Ray Monde, The moon as a lonely companion, 2021, Ray Monde, Beast of glory, 2021, Ray Monde, A new day for everyone, 2021, Ray Monde, A cradle of yellow buttons, 2021, Ray Monde, A River of Whispers, 2021 and Ray Monde, Vignettes, 2021 (detail). Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring Ray Monde, A new day for everyone, 2021,(detail), Ray Monde, A cradle of yellow buttons, 2021, Ray Monde, A River of Whispers, 2021 (detail) and Ray Monde, Vignettes, 2021 (detail). Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring Ray Monde, A cradle of yellow buttons, 2021, and Ray Monde, A River of Whispers, 2021. Photograph: Silversalt Photography.
Installation view Ray Monde What the Wayfarer Saw featuring Ray Monde, A River of Whispers, 2021 and Ray Monde, Wayfarer, 2021, Collection of the Artist. Photograph: Silversalt Photography.