The seas between us
I have been working away over the past 3 years on a project close to my heart. After receiving a scholarship to participate in art course in Venice in 2023, an idea that had been simmering away in my thoughts began to take shape. I was going to go big, take up space and make a sculptural piece exploring my family’s stories of migration from Scotland and Italy to Australia over 60 years ago.
I have documented the stages of experimentation and making in previous blog posts. It was an experience of experimentation and learning new skills. It was the first time I had made a piece as large as this however that was an important element of the work - I wanted to take up space, the opposite of what those migrating to a new land are told to do; fit in, adapt, blend in.
It was also a valuable experience in learning about the personal histories of my family as I spoke to family members about their stories and recorded these conversations by hand. Fragments of these handwritten conversations are woven into the piece, sitting between photographs that document everyday life in Australia in the 1950s and beyond.
After years of making, the piece took form as a soft sculptural piece titled ‘The seas between us’.
'The seas between us', 2023 - 2026. Screenprinted fabric of artist’s family photographs and handwritten conversations, with handsewing and repurposed materials.
To create this large-scale work, I screenprinted family photographs, keepsakes and handwritten conversations about their recollections of their migration experiences onto fabric and created large, 3-dimensional links that are hand sewn together. The series of images used in each link repeat, changing only in colour, orientation or intensity, much like memories themselves.
What results is a 5 metre sculpture for people to read, to be immersed in and to step around or perhaps even under, in order to see the stories that each link shares.
The seas between us will be part of a group show, EPIGEAL at Unit 2 Gallery opening 24 April 2026.
EPIGEAL features over 60 local to Hastings, as well as national and international artists. The show celebrates art-making as a strange, beautiful, shared human experience.
Launch: 24 April 6.30pm til late, with drinks, tunes and canapés
Continues: 25 and 26 April 11am-5pm
Exhibition dates: 24 - 26 April 2026
📍Where: Unit 2 Gallery, 8 - 10 London Road, St Leonards-on-Sea, TN37 6AA