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‘The Keys Were Not Mine’ – 2026
Created by Charli Savage
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The Meaning / Story
When I was younger I was playing under the house my dad was living in at the time (as kids do), and I found this set of old keys in the dirt. And so I decided they weren’t just ordinary keys and they didn’t belong to just ordinary locks. Each key opened a different door, and each door led to somewhere impossible. And they wouldn’t just appear, you had to find them, hidden away in secret places, like behind the shed, where no one could see. But of course, not every door was “friendly”. Some would slam shut the moment you crossed the threshold, and would not reopen until you’d completed whatever strange bargain that world demanded of you. And if you failed?… Well, you had to stay there, lost to whatever world you’d fallen into. I guess that’s just the price you have to be willing to pay when you step through secret doors to impossible places. I definitely imagined sending my brother through those particular doors when he was being annoying (which was pretty much all the time).
This piece began years ago, under a house, hands in the dirt, uncovering a set of forgotten keys that felt like they belonged to another world. Places you could enter… but not always return from. And now here I am now, 20 something years later, painting those doors into existence and it feels rather surreal. Back then it was a game but now it feels more like remembering. I think this painting is my way of proving those doors existed after all… or perhaps making sure they still do. By the way, I still have those keys. They weren’t mine, but still… I took them. Some trinkets are worth keeping, even if they were never meant for you.
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Important Information
• Please note: colours / saturation / brightness can appear differently screen to screen
• Edition Size: 30
• Print Size: 18 × 24in / 46 × 61cm
• Paper: Archival Standard Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308GSM Fine Art Paper
• Prints include a white border with a hand-written edition number on bottom left & artist’s signature on bottom right
• Certificate of Authenticity included
• Prints are unframed
• Shipping: Australia: $10 / International: $25
• Returns and Refund Policy can be viewed here