Exhibitions
SOCIAL FABRIC - Naarm Textile Biennale at FortyFiveDownstairs Gallery, 2025
Upside Down Country
“Upside Down Country” uses ochres and pigments sourced from the soils of central Victoria, ground into a fine powder and painted onto linen in a soy milk suspension. The silk threads are hand dyed using found, organic matter.
"Upside Down Country" is a term used by the Dja Dja Wurrung people of central Victoria to describe the destructive impact of the gold rush, which forced the land to be literally turned upside down through excavation. It refers to the way gold mining and land clearing disrupted the natural landscape. These works are an exploration of the destruction of the land which occurred as a result of the gold rush and are still evident today. Simultaneously, the artist uses the materials gathered and the creation of the work to explore her own connection to the land of central Victoria, both historical and present-day, and the subsequent search for reconciliation and a way forward.
This story is contemporary, ongoing and unfinished.
The artist would like to acknowledge the Dja Dja Wurrung People, the Traditional Owners of the land on which she works and lives and pay her respect to them, their culture and their Elders past and present.
"Upside Down Country" is a term used by the Dja Dja Wurrung people of central Victoria to describe the destructive impact of the gold rush, which forced the land to be literally turned upside down through excavation. It refers to the way gold mining and land clearing disrupted the natural landscape. These works are an exploration of the destruction of the land which occurred as a result of the gold rush and are still evident today. Simultaneously, the artist uses the materials gathered and the creation of the work to explore her own connection to the land of central Victoria, both historical and present-day, and the subsequent search for reconciliation and a way forward.
This story is contemporary, ongoing and unfinished.
The artist would like to acknowledge the Dja Dja Wurrung People, the Traditional Owners of the land on which she works and lives and pay her respect to them, their culture and their Elders past and present.
Trentham Easter Art and Craft Show, 2025
Ancestry I, mixed media
Ancestry I, mixed media
Materials: Earth pigments on linen, hand-dyed cotton thread
Ancestry I uses earth pigments sourced from the soils of central Victoria, ground into a fine powder and painted onto linen in a soy milk suspension. The proteins in soy milk bind to the pigment particles, creating a stable mixture for application.
Ancestry I is an exploration of the artist’s personal history and links to the gold rush, contrasting the wealth and prosperity that the gold rush brought with the catastrophic impact of mining and occupation on the land and the original occupants. The land is known now by the Dja Dja Wurrung people as ‘upside-down country’, a fitting description for the devastation.
Ancestry I uses earth pigments sourced from the soils of central Victoria, ground into a fine powder and painted onto linen in a soy milk suspension. The proteins in soy milk bind to the pigment particles, creating a stable mixture for application.
Ancestry I is an exploration of the artist’s personal history and links to the gold rush, contrasting the wealth and prosperity that the gold rush brought with the catastrophic impact of mining and occupation on the land and the original occupants. The land is known now by the Dja Dja Wurrung people as ‘upside-down country’, a fitting description for the devastation.
UNCOMMON THREADS -
Naarm Textile Collective at FortyFiveDownstairs Gallery
17 - 28 October 2023
Dimensions: 42 cm x 51 cm x 3 cm
Materials: repurposed cotton bed sheets, natural linen; hand-dyed, cotton and silk thread
Techniques: cyanotype printing, eco-dyeing, embroidery
Ghosts I depicts an image of the artist’s grandmother and father, as mother and infant. The portrait was taken to commemorate the christening of the child. He wears the family heirloom christening gown. The image and its ghost image are exposed, using cyanotype, onto a repurposed bed sheet. Other fragments of fabric are eco-dyed with rose petals, taken from the casket arrangement (created by the artist’s sister) at their father’s funeral.
The fabric is torn into fragments, and so the layers of symbolism are torn apart, representing a life torn apart by the death of the artist’s father. In death and with time, memories fragment and it is the ghosts that remain. The stitches gather up and hold together the memories of the people now gone. The layers are reconnected, preserving the stories for generations to come. The stitches are created in hand-dyed silk thread. They are redolent of the embroidery found in work made by the artist’s grandmother.
The work itself continues the legacy of generations of men and women in the family, sewing, embroidering, knitting, spinning.
Materials: repurposed cotton bed sheets, natural linen; hand-dyed, cotton and silk thread
Techniques: cyanotype printing, eco-dyeing, embroidery
Ghosts I depicts an image of the artist’s grandmother and father, as mother and infant. The portrait was taken to commemorate the christening of the child. He wears the family heirloom christening gown. The image and its ghost image are exposed, using cyanotype, onto a repurposed bed sheet. Other fragments of fabric are eco-dyed with rose petals, taken from the casket arrangement (created by the artist’s sister) at their father’s funeral.
The fabric is torn into fragments, and so the layers of symbolism are torn apart, representing a life torn apart by the death of the artist’s father. In death and with time, memories fragment and it is the ghosts that remain. The stitches gather up and hold together the memories of the people now gone. The layers are reconnected, preserving the stories for generations to come. The stitches are created in hand-dyed silk thread. They are redolent of the embroidery found in work made by the artist’s grandmother.
The work itself continues the legacy of generations of men and women in the family, sewing, embroidering, knitting, spinning.
TACTILE at Geelong Art Space
July - September 2022
Objects and Observations
In memory of you, Dad
I wander along the shore, breathing deeply, feeling the wind on my face, gathering small treasures as I go. Sometimes I smile and at times the tears roll down my cheeks. Here are many memories and for that I am grateful.
I cherish this gift of time in contemplation and deep reflection. I do not take for granted that I have a medium with which I feel at ease, a medium to capture these moments of joy and grief.
Great Ocean Road, January 2022
In memory of you, Dad
I wander along the shore, breathing deeply, feeling the wind on my face, gathering small treasures as I go. Sometimes I smile and at times the tears roll down my cheeks. Here are many memories and for that I am grateful.
I cherish this gift of time in contemplation and deep reflection. I do not take for granted that I have a medium with which I feel at ease, a medium to capture these moments of joy and grief.
Great Ocean Road, January 2022
Craft Lab 22 at Ballarat Mining Exchange
May 2022
FIBRE at Brunswick Street Gallery
December 2019
Abstract Geometric I, 2019
Materials:
Linen, hand dyed cotton, hand woven hemp, cotton and had dyed silk thread.
Size:
9 x 15 cm
A modern interpretation of traditional sewing techniques from around the world - India, Japan, Europe and Australia – with inspriation from the abstract geometric art of the Bauhaus movement. Other inspirations include the abstract geometric paintings of Hilma Af Klint, and the textile block printing works of Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Larcher, from the early 20th century.
Linen, hand dyed cotton, hand woven hemp, cotton and had dyed silk thread.
Size:
9 x 15 cm
A modern interpretation of traditional sewing techniques from around the world - India, Japan, Europe and Australia – with inspriation from the abstract geometric art of the Bauhaus movement. Other inspirations include the abstract geometric paintings of Hilma Af Klint, and the textile block printing works of Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Larcher, from the early 20th century.
