Elise Martinson – Illustrator & Artist | Central Coast NSW, Australia - Surviving Australia Exhibit Illustrations

Surviving Australia Exhibit

Illustrations for Australian Museum

I created this series of life-sized Australian megafauna murals for the Australian Museum’s freshly refurbished Surviving Australia exhibition. This exhibition is part of the Museum’s permanent installation and explores how Australia’s prehistoric natural history shaped the unique biodiversity we see in Australia today. In total, I worked on 8 murals and over 35 individual animal and insect/bug illustrations, as well as additional assets like trees and leaves to be used throughout the space.

This was a large-scale project, with some of the illustrations measuring up to 6.8 metres wide and 2.4 metres tall. Even the life-sized animals were big - Megalania (the large, Komodo dragon-like lizard you will see below) measures 5.5 metres long!

The project involved close collaboration with the exhibit producter, designer and palaeontologist. I was challenged with balancing scientific accuracy with the approachability and physical constraints of the existing exhibition cabinets. Some illustrations were fairly straightforward, while others went through multiple revisions to incorporate feedback, adapt to the evolving exhibition plans and improve scientific accuracy in-line with current knowledge.

These large panels were designed to fit within the Museum’s existing heritage display cases. The artwork was supplied to the design team in layers so the animals and other elements could be printed as cut-outs and then layered within the cabinets. This approach also allowed the individual illustrations to be repurposed for marketing, education, and promotional materials.

Working with the Australian Museum was an ideal project for me. I’m always excited to collaborate on projects that combine natural history, wildlife, conservation themes, and science. Throughout this project, I had a strong sense that I was contributing something meaningful to our collective understanding of Australia’s prehistoric fauna. There are relatively few visual depictions of these animals and as palaeontologists continue to make new discoveries, our understanding of how they may have looked evolves - meaning many existing depictions are no longer based on the most recent information. I created these illustrations under the guidance of palaebiologist Douglass Rovinsky so I could depict the animals based on the latest research (or be a little more speculative where there was less known about the subject).

These illustrations are now on display for the public in the Museum’s permanent (and free!) exhibition space. If you’d like to learn more about each of the animals, the Australian Museum has a great online resource, including an interactive version of the murals where you can click through and explore each species in more detail:
https://australian.museum/publications/surviving-australia/prehistoric-australia/

and of course if you can to make it to Sydney, I strongly recommend visiting the new exhibition space in person at Australian Museum!