the face paintings

She adds the mirrors later, to breed more of the light. They hoard it all: the bulb and candle and bleeding lantern of morning; the clean white sunshine of afternoon; the orange glow of sun-death.

the face paintings, described by writer Abigayle Carmody as ‘a powerful and unsettling story’, was shortlisted for the Djillong Short Story 2022 Competition.

It was inspired by some of the true events written about in four small portraits in a life.

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The only prerequisite for it is windows.

Large, spreading windows that leak natural light. She is the first and the youngest of the grandchildren to buy property, but by now her paintings are so acclaimed, nobody is surprised.

She adds the mirrors later, to breed more of the light. They hoard it all: the bulb and candle and bleeding lantern of morning; the clean white sunshine of afternoon; the orange glow of sun-death. They take up most of the walls, clean plain mirrors opposite the windows; brimming with, and throwing, that outside light.

Her favourite is close to the kitchen, between the reading nook and her desk. The mirror is long, like a finger. Her entire body, from feet to hair, fit into it. And onto it, the greenery of the backyard spills through with the sunshine. Standing angled in front of this mirror, she is suffused with the gum trees and the banksias and the bottlebrushes and the lilly pilly. She is trapped inside it, the way she traps her paint. She is lightness.