This August, Saint Cloche presents We Can’t Fly, a new solo exhibition by Australian artist Saxon Quinn. Bringing together a new body of paintings, the exhibition reflects on the quiet mythology that exists between parents and their children, gently unravelling childhood ideas of heroism to reveal a deeper story of love, vulnerability and imagination.

The exhibition takes its title from a moment between Quinn’s daughters. Hearing four year old Luna reassure her younger sister, “Don’t worry Nina, Dad’s a superhero,” became the catalyst for this body of work. The words reveal the way young children see their parents: as figures of strength, certainty and protection.

Rather than reinforcing that mythology, Quinn subtly subverts it.

Across the paintings, it is the children who emerge as the true symbols of courage, imagination and unconditional love, while parents, increasingly aware of their own imperfections, are left humbled by the unwavering faith placed in them.

Luna and Nina appear throughout the exhibition as both subjects and creative catalysts. Their uninhibited approach to making encourages Quinn to paint with greater instinct and freedom, embracing spontaneity over certainty. Familiar symbols are reimagined through their eyes, from faces marked with vivid lipstick to He-Man transformed into a young girl with Nina’s unmistakable bob haircut. Together, these works gently dismantle inherited ideas of heroism, suggesting that strength is found as much in tenderness, curiosity and imagination as it is in power.

At the heart of the exhibition is a photograph of Quinn with his late father in Bali in 2001, accompanied by a handwritten note that simply reads, “Thank you for all you’ve given me.” Written during the final years of his father’s life, the work quietly completes the circle between parent and child, reminding us that while children begin life believing their parents are superheroes, it is often the parents who come to see their children as the real superheroes.

“When Luna told Nina that I was a superhero, it stopped me in my tracks. As parents, we know we’re anything but invincible. We make mistakes, we question ourselves, and we’re constantly learning. But children don’t see our flaws. They see possibility, safety and love.

Becoming a father has changed not only the way I see the world, but the way I make work. My daughters remind me to trust instinct, to embrace play, and to create without worrying whether something is right or wrong. The older they get, the more I realise they’re the superheroes. Every painting in this exhibition carries a little of that freedom.”