Making / Unmaking / Remaking
Making / Unmaking / Remaking explores what can happen when we reuse and transform materials that already exist, rather than continually making with new ones. With approximately 6000 kilos of textiles and clothing discarded into Australian landfill every 10 minutes (Monash Sustainable Development Institute), the project looks at ways of giving materials a longer life. For me, this means sharing, receiving and gifting materials, using clothing as art material, refurbishing textiles, and sometimes remaking temporary or studio works into more permanent pieces.
My current works are made from second-life clothing and reused textiles. The fabrics retain traces of previous use, such as worn and frayed seams, familiar patterns, stitching details and garment elements, and these often help shape the form and structure of each artwork. Rather than simply being materials I work with, they become collaborators in the making.
I mostly work by hand through stitching, quilting and construction, guided by care and listening. Hand quilting is repetitive and creates a slow, thoughtful rhythm. The slow rhythm of stitching gives me space to think about labour, sustainability and self-care, while also paying attention to the emotional, cultural and historical weight carried by everyday garments and fabrics.
My current works are made from second-life clothing and reused textiles. The fabrics retain traces of previous use, such as worn and frayed seams, familiar patterns, stitching details and garment elements, and these often help shape the form and structure of each artwork. Rather than simply being materials I work with, they become collaborators in the making.
I mostly work by hand through stitching, quilting and construction, guided by care and listening. Hand quilting is repetitive and creates a slow, thoughtful rhythm. The slow rhythm of stitching gives me space to think about labour, sustainability and self-care, while also paying attention to the emotional, cultural and historical weight carried by everyday garments and fabrics.
I remember the long hot days of summer
2026
Dimensions:100 cm x 74 cm x 2 cm (variable)
Materials: Fabric (T-shirt, skirt x2, dress, apron, jacket, doona wadding) cotton thread
Hand stitched, padded, quilted
The materials do most of the remembering: t-shirts, striped fabric, floral prints and colours that feel like long summer afternoons.
Exhibited in Material Memory, curated by Satellite Project at T3 Lobby in Collingwood
2026
Dimensions:100 cm x 74 cm x 2 cm (variable)
Materials: Fabric (T-shirt, skirt x2, dress, apron, jacket, doona wadding) cotton thread
Hand stitched, padded, quilted
The materials do most of the remembering: t-shirts, striped fabric, floral prints and colours that feel like long summer afternoons.
Exhibited in Material Memory, curated by Satellite Project at T3 Lobby in Collingwood
I often think about Grace
2026
Dimensions: 60cm W x 90cm H x 2cm D
Materials: Fabric (Serviette x 4, Placemats x 2, apron x 1, doona wadding)
Hand stitched, padded, quilted
Exhibited in Material Memory, curated by Satellite Project at T3 Lobby in Collingwood
2026
Dimensions: 60cm W x 90cm H x 2cm D
Materials: Fabric (Serviette x 4, Placemats x 2, apron x 1, doona wadding)
Hand stitched, padded, quilted
Exhibited in Material Memory, curated by Satellite Project at T3 Lobby in Collingwood
I took a long time to decide that this is what I wanted to be
2026
90 cm x 90 cm x 2 cm (variable)
Fabric – scarf, dress x 2, cushion cover, shirt, baby onesie, scrap from a quilter’s stash
cotton thread, wadding from doona
2026
90 cm x 90 cm x 2 cm (variable)
Fabric – scarf, dress x 2, cushion cover, shirt, baby onesie, scrap from a quilter’s stash
cotton thread, wadding from doona
Do you remember when I wanted to wear pink?
2026
Materials: Fabric (bedspread, towel, pillow cover, dog blanket), shared cotton, trim, found object
80 cm x 65 cm x 2 cm (variable)
hand stitching, padding, quilting
Exhibited at Anglesea Art Space Thread Lines 2 Anglesea
2026
Materials: Fabric (bedspread, towel, pillow cover, dog blanket), shared cotton, trim, found object
80 cm x 65 cm x 2 cm (variable)
hand stitching, padding, quilting
Exhibited at Anglesea Art Space Thread Lines 2 Anglesea
I want to have a frill
2026 Materials: Fabric (dress x 2, shirt, scarf) cotton, acrylic wadding (cushion stuffing) 40 cm x 35 cm x 3 cm hand stitching, padding, quilting Photo by Rod Ceballos |
I want to be pink and padded
2026 Materials: Fabric (dress, scarf, second life fabric) cotton, acrylic wadding (cushion stuffing) 41 cm x 31cm x 4 cm hand stitching, padding, quilting |
Exhibited at 2026 Biennial Textile Palette Exhibition Stuff: Purpose, profit and peril Esmond Gallery The Warehouse Clunes
I want you to care
2026
Materials: Fabric (skirt, dress x2, t-shirt x 2, curtain and second life fabric x 1) Cotton, Acrylic Wadding
89 cm x 60 cm x 0.2 cm
Exhibited at Bound by Thread Naarm Textile Collective Glen Eira City Gallery March - April 2026
2026
Materials: Fabric (skirt, dress x2, t-shirt x 2, curtain and second life fabric x 1) Cotton, Acrylic Wadding
89 cm x 60 cm x 0.2 cm
Exhibited at Bound by Thread Naarm Textile Collective Glen Eira City Gallery March - April 2026
I want to be like this
2026 Materials: dress x 2, shirt, cotton top, and one piece of fabric from my stash. 39 cm x 35 cm x 4 cm |
Is this what you wanted to be?
2025 Materials: Jumper, dress x 2, blanket, 2nd life fabric, 36 cm x 36 cm x 1 cm |
Boundaries remade into I always wanted to look like this in 2026 (studio work)
Materials: t-shirts, dress, jumper
35cm x 32cm x 2 cm
Materials: t-shirts, dress, jumper
35cm x 32cm x 2 cm
Body of Work
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Body of Work exhibited in Factory 49: A Tribute exhibition at Articulate Project Space Sydney 2024
Boundaries
Boundaries is a series of works made from recycled clothes and other wearable objects. Materials including T-shirs, leggings, tops and accessories are coiled, padded, crochet, twined, sewn, and glued. |
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Waste Not Want Not
Discarded
Discarded is a femmage using found objects, leftover canvas scraps, used doilies, curtain cords, and fabric pieces. An eclectic group of materials, collected over many years; some gifted from friends, others found in family collections and one piece picked up from the ground as I gathered discarded objects in my hometown cemetery. These abandoned materials evoke a sense of nostalgia and loss; however, made into a new work, these cast offs have a new life of value and significance.
Dimensions: 35 x 25 cm (Height x Width)
Exhibited at Geelong Art Space 2023
Photo by Katherine Marmaras
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Recovered Recovered is a coiled, crochet, covered work that uses found objects, discarded fabric, and leftover yarn. Covered yarn and coiled fabric strips are spiraled around a central floral piece evoking a small, quirky, ‘natural’ world, bleached of any colour. ‘Recovered’ is one of a number of works that uses feminist methodologies of thinking and feeling to produce large and small-scale organic shapes and patterns out of found and recycled materials. Dimensions: 30 x 30 cm (Height x Width) Exhibited at Geelong Art Space 2023 Photo by Katherine Marmaras |
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untethered _ unmaking material: yarn, florist wire, found objects (doily, pom-pom) studio experiment - seeing if unmaking can provide knowledge in a similar way to making untethered -to free from to free from expectations of what it is to make a finished artwork that sits on the wall to be viewed to free from the restrictions of making unmaking made works what about this suggests something of the human experience? what to learn from the unmaking ? space created by the work as unmade do we think about the whole or just the unmaking? doing something/making something/unmaking something when I don't understand what I am doing, making, unmaking requires some trust in the materials and in the processes requires a willingness to continue without critique requires letting go of the expectations of a finished work 
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making_unmaking
'All at once' Crochet, coiled yarn, florist wire, beads
50cm x 50cm
Year: 2022
Exhibited in Red Things at Post Gallery
'It's all coming apart' Crochet, coiled yarn, florist wire, beads variable dimensions 2022 Exhibited in Red Things at Post Gallery
