Loretta Riach is a Pākehā artist and writer from Aotearoa, living in Naarm. Much of their work is concerned with landscape, solidarity, and ghosts, but they also like to write love poems. This writing can be found in previous issues of Starling, as well as publications including Sick Leave, Sweet Mammalian, The Spinoff, Min-a-rets, Ōrongohau | Best New Zealand Poems, and Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook. More of their art can be found on their website. They love geology, swimming in rivers, and telling stories.
Loretta writes: ‘In Fell Dark is a nocturnal picture, inspired by ideas of the so-called ‘Antipodean gothic’, and a misplaced fear of trees at night. I’m generally interested in the lineage of landscape painting in Aotearoa, and how painted renderings have been used to construct mythologies of place, that conceal the environment from view. The title, as well as (my favourite) unnatural ultramarine blue, both reflect this folkloric sensibility.’