At her exhibition opened on Thursday, Chiara explained why her most recent art was so important to her.

“After a failed stapendectomy surgery on my right ear I am now completely deaf in that ear and partially deaf in my left ear,” Chiara said.

“Eventually I will be completely deaf and the only way I will be able to communicate is through my art.”

Chiara said art was a lifelong passion.

“My love for art began in primary school experimenting with different styles of handwriting,” Chiara said,.

“Then I started experimenting with different mediums and how it reacted on paper and canvas.”

After abandoning high school dreams of becoming a sign-writer she found creativity through cooking before returning to art with her first exhibition then entering competitions with success which inspired her to continue her passion.

“This is now my fifth exhibition, I’ve been painting now for 20 years,” she said.

Chiara’s works are very detailed.

“There’s copious amount of hours, some here have taken eight months, almost a year,” she said.

“My style is little bit abstract, there’s a bit of surrealism mixed in it too, it’s what you don’t normally see, it’s not the boats in the water, you can see far beyond that, there is a lot more to it. It’s me in a nutshell, definitely.”

The Tully native has lived in Mount Isa with her partner for the past two years and was looking for somewhere local to display her art when Arvo’s owner Deb Howie put out a call on Facebook.

“I thought there’s somewhere different for me and I can extend my art through the country not just the coast,” she said.

Chiara doesn’t have a studio or workshop.

“I normally just sit wherever is comfortable, wherever my element feels good and I just go for it,” she said.

“Once the paintbrush is in my hand there is nothing more, nothing less

Ms Samperi’s work is for sale. Contact her by Facebook if interested. Her work will be hanging at Arvo’s for next month.

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