Artist Profile: Joey Yorke
By the Bay Exhibition, Rose de Freycinet Gallery, 2025
Joey Yorke is a Western Australian artist whose life and practice are intimately tied to the ocean. Living at Ocean Park Aquarium just south of Denham, Joey draws inspiration from daily encounters with Shark Bay’s coastal landscape.
Her artistic journey has taken her from childhood sketchbooks on a Brookton farm to teaching and engaging with art in the USA and Europe, before finding a creative home on the shores of Gathaagudu.
For By the Bay, Joey presents richly textured works inspired by the fleeting patterns left by tide, wind, and waves. Using acrylic textured mediums and found natural materials – shells, seagrass, clay, and sand – she recreates the tranquil rhythm of the shoreline. Her practice is both sensory and meditative, offering abstract interpretations of the ocean as both muse and refuge.
“For me, that first dive into the ocean is a moment of pure serenity – a place where the world quiets, the sand remains untouched, and the water restores my energy.” — Joey Yorke, 2025
Video filmed and edited by Michael Fletcher, Fletcher Visuals 2025
Curated by Andrew Nicholls
Conceived by the Shark Bay World Heritage Discovery & Visitor Centre,
Installed by Andrew Nicholls and Aiyana Wright
Project Managed by Kathryn McKay
This project is delivered by the Shire of Shark Bay, and made possible through the Regional Arts Venue Support program managed by Western Australian State Government.
