Justine Wahlin is a multidisciplinary visual artist and musician.   

VISUAL ART

Justine’s work explores the intersection of nature and human experience with a sense of simultaneous belonging and alienation.

From a long line of artists including great uncle, Justin O’Brien, Justine has grown up amid the smell of oil paint and role models who have instilled a deep reverence for art. 

Justine was born in Sweden to a Swedish father and an Australian mother. Arriving in Australia as a very young child, she has since sought a sense of belonging across two worlds with wildly different landscapes. This push-pull plays out through both a melancholic and nostalgic gaze and through a frank stare, not bereft of humour and some uncomfortable truths.  She draws from both a sense of displacement and belonging and as a result, her work often evokes the space in between, an enchanting and whimsical place.

Playing with perspectives of life through a broad range of subjects, mediums and styles, Justine shows us that she is always playing, she has a strong body of work yet the road less travelled remains compelling and we can see a great deal of divergent inquiry.

Justine explores through music, film and animation, alongside visual art mediums such as sculpture, watercolor, acrylic paint, ink and collage.

Over the last 10 years Justine has produced an impressive body of work. With an ever-inquiring mind, her music has accompanied a deep dive into multimedia art forms as she has, and continues, to explore many forms of artistic expression. She has a small swag of short films and music videos under her belt, some accompanying her own songs and she has made films for other artists too.

MUSIC
Following her formative years playing bass in bands through the 90’s and early 2000’s, Justine is now at the centre of her own stage with a swathe of deeply emotive and lyrical tales pieced together with unique songwriting and a captivating voice. 

Justine has emerged a songwriter and performer with a lot to offer among the poets and misfits. Her live shows have been described as “mesmerising” Karl Broadie and “Like listening to an old record, only live” Zvonko Jovicic.

Her most recent album released in 2019 “A Pair of Dreamers” recorded at Red Shelf Records is a delicately and beautifully crafted work gently weaving its way around people’s hearts and fast becoming a favourite for those who have been lucky enough to hear it.

“A Lovely Record”  William Bowden (William Bowden Mastering)
“Do yourself a Favour”  Paul Gough (RN, 2ser, ABC Radio, PimPod) 

Her debut EP, a raw and heart felt live recording “Conversation with Crows’ was followed by “A Long Way From Home”, an ambitious studio album which took out the Anthony Lycenco best Roots Album Award at the Nimbin roots Festival ARMAs in 2017.  

Justine also writes and performs as one third of CloudBird, a  trio in which poetry and folk collide with a foot tapping road trip sing a long's entwining guitars, harmonies, girl boy, yin yang, north south, land sea…throw in a bit of psychedelic dub and you start to get the full picture.

CloudBird released their anticipated debut album in late 2021, a rollicking album available on vinyl. 

More recently you’ll also find her behind the drums with Sydney beatnik/folk outfit, the Suburban Bukowskis

While Justine pursues her various musical projects there is nothing she loves more than stripping it all back to perform solo, honouring the origin and true sentiment of her unique voice and story telling.

Justine continues to experiment with different approaches to songwriting and producing her own studio recordings with the aim of releasing a self produced album in the near future.