Anne-Marie Zanetti is a self-styled, award winning Australian artist whose photorealist paintings featuring rich luminous colours, dramatic use of sunlight and intricate details are held in galleries and private collections here and internationally.

Starting her art practice later in life – she was in her early 40s – Anne-Marie's work is inspired by delving into personal experience, namely the stunning range of human emotions.

The emerging artist is most inspired when she is truly vulnerable and present to both the external and internal worlds. From the drama of a smashed watermelon to the intensity of her portraits, Anne-Marie's oil pieces embody intrigue and passion. They are eye catching, rhythmical, flowing, bold and strong.

Anne-Marie is devoted to a singular purpose. To illuminate the preciousness of objects and moments in time that may otherwise seem insignificant or ordinary...to invite viewers to enter a meditative place by feeling a sense of intimacy, wonder and awe...and to crack wide open the world's beauty for all to see.

The soulful quality of Anne-Marie's work stems primarily from a traumatic experience early on that was to profoundly change her life. At 17, she fell pregnant and, under hushed circumstances, flew to the other side of Australia to give birth and adopt out her daughter.

With hindsight and the benefit of many years of self-exploration, Anne-Marie now considers her life to be incredibly blessed. She is married to a loving man and mother to two more wonderful children and very grateful to be happily reconnected with her first daughter and family, including two grandchildren.

The process of dealing with her grief, loss and the multitude of other emotions, however, is for her never-ending and constantly shape-shifting, akin to 'walking the tight line'. One of the ways in which Anne-Marie reclaims those essential parts of herself is through her art practice.

Each painting is a sensitive expression of another layer peeled back, another truth exposed, another light shone on a situation no matter how unbearable. The unfathomable depth of relinquishing her first daughter, and that of motherhood in general (including the ineffable joys), now informs her canvas. There, it is therapeutically transformed.