BECOMING NOW
At BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE MAY 22 -JULY 5. 2026.
118 Emu Bank, Belconnen ACT
Using plants as metaphor, my work explores the human journey through layered drawing and stitched textiles. Strength and vulnerability coexist in forms shaped by time and experience. Each flower carries a quiet symbolic meaning, inviting reflection on endurance, emotion, and the ways we are marked and held by life.
View the artwork here
The exhibition opened on Friday 22 May.
Works can be purchased at https://www.belcoarts.com.au/becoming-now/
My Opening Speech:
The philosopher and feminist, Luce Irigaray, wrote about the power of unfolding, urging us to 'be what you are becoming'. As an artist, her words deeply resonated with me, shifting my focus away from a static view of time and toward continuous evolution. Reflecting how plants grow, my artwork, Becoming Now, explores this exact journey. I chose this direction because it perfectly aligns with my creative process and the final themes that emerged.
This exhibition developed slowly and intuitively through layering, stitching, unpicking, and rebuilding. The artworks incorporate photographic images on silk, charcoal, lace, and found materials. I am drawn to ordinary cloth—from a repaired handkerchief to recycled doilies and vintage and preloved fabrics—because they already hold evidence of use, wear, and care. These aged surfaces carry a tangible sense of lived experience.
Plants became the central language of this work. I am continually drawn to the quiet strength found in nature—the way things weather, fade, regenerate, and persist. A flower appears delicate, yet it survives through cycles of growth and decline. For me, these botanical forms mirror our own human resilience.
Stitching itself serves as a vital metaphor here. A stitch can suggest mending, connection, or holding memories together. Sometimes the thread appears fragile; other times it acts like a bold drawing line across the surface. It carries both strength and vulnerability at the exact same time.
Throughout making these pieces, I kept returning to the idea that beauty thrives within imperfection. Fading, repair, and transformation are the very essence of what it means to live and grow. I hope this exhibition creates a space for pause, encouraging you to notice the quieter, more fragile moments that often go unseen.
I’d like to sincerely thank the gallery for supporting this exhibition, and everyone who has encouraged me throughout the process of making the work. And thank you all for coming tonight and sharing this evening with me.
I hope you enjoy the exhibition.
Faded Beauty: Petunia 2025 | 410 × 510 mm | 20 mm oak frame
Hand embroidery on muted pigment photographic print on silk
Gentle white petals stitched with fine radiating threads hold quiet presence and impermanence. Stillness, fragility, and unfolding grace gather here, where fading carries its own luminous beauty and quiet renewal.
“If you think: yesterday I was, tomorrow I shall be, you are thinking: I have died a little. Be what you are becoming, without clinging to what you might have been, what you might yet be. Never settle. Let’s leave definitiveness to the undecided; we don’t need it.”
Luce Irigaray (1985). The sex which is not one. Cornell University Press (English translation)