My bed is an island on a frozen sea. The rocky cliff walls trapped beneath a dirty ceiling, exhale crisp breaths the same colour as the grey-cloud sky outside. The curtains crack a shaft of cold light over the smaller island-piles of towels, clothes and books.

In December 2013 I spent a month as an artist in residence at Arteles Creative Centre in Finland; it was the darkest and coldest part of winter. When I returned to the light and heat of an Australian Summer I began to notice features in my home that reminded me of the winter landscapes in Finland. Light coming through the cracks in the curtains looked like a frozen lake, or an icy horizon, or an aurora dancing across the ceiling.

I was fascinated by the way my experience of living in a new place had changed they way I saw my familiar environment and enabled me to see things I had never noticed before.