Local Knowledge is an ongoing collaborative series by Sally Lundburg and Keith Tallett that uses language, imagery, and layered material processes to explore how knowledge is shared, interpreted, and transformed through lived experience.

Drawing on familiar sayings, warnings, invitations, and everyday observations, the works use humor, irony, and the interplay of image and text to suggest meanings beyond the words themselves. Often functioning as a kind of alternative signage, they reflect on the relationships between people, place, memory, and communities in transition.

The series takes the idea of local knowledge as something fluid and continually evolving, shaped by observation, experience, and the exchange of ideas across cultures and communities.

The work takes two related forms: mixed-media paintings and Local Knowledge: Onsite, in which paintings are photographed in the landscape, creating another exchange between language, image, and place.

Fifteen paintings from the series were included in the 2017 Honolulu Biennial.

Fair Warning
Sally Lundburg + Keith Tallett
Archival inkjet print on rice paper, resin, and enamel on wood panel
42 × 66 in. overall (diptych)
Two panels, each 42 × 31.5 in.

Nobody Owns the Beach
Mixed media on wood panel, 24" x 24"

Never Turn Your Back to the Ocean
Mixed media on wood panel, 24" x 24"