These are the words of Kay Singleton Keller:

"A body of paintings should speak for itself, engaging the viewer through its visual language. However it is sometimes interesting to know what lies behind the images, the stories that may inspire the finished work. In this instance, it was a story told to me, of a young Russian woman who left her home and family in 1932, at the age of 18, to escape the communist regime.

She and her friend engaged a Chinese guide, travelling along the river in a row-boat headed for China. They travelled by the dark of night and slowly, not to disturb the surface of the water, disguising themselves and the boat with branches and leaves. By day they and the boat remained hidden on islands in the river.

When they eventually reached the Chinese side of the River Amur, the young woman heard, wafting over the surface of the water, the voices of the Russian border guards singing Russian folk songs. That was her moment of epiphany. From here she knew there was no going back.

In Shanghai she met and married her Russian husband, and together they survived the Second World War. But they and their 2 young sons were again forced to flee communism, and as refugees once more, they travelled to Australia in 1953.This woman, now 91, still lives in Sydney's sprawling suburbs, in her own home, surrounded by family. I have never met her but her story has inspired me and continues to do so. In her I sense the flame of the indomitable female spirit."

The paintings and pastel drawings in this exhibition are vibrant and powerful, each picture demands attention. The viewer can not simply walk past without stopping to take in the scenes before them.