MEL/HEL/MEL

MELBOURNE & HELSINKI 2015–16

From November 2015 to February 2016, I undertook the Australia Council for the Arts studio residency at the Helsinki International Artist Program (HIAP). This residency became the foundation for MEL/HEL/MEL, a project exploring exchange and navigation across places, cultures, and time.

Before leaving Melbourne, I removed a small section of my studio wall — fragments of paint and plaster — and cast it into a cement disk (15 cm in diameter, 1.5 cm deep). I carried this disk to Helsinki, where I embedded it into the HIAP studio wall, carefully concealing it beneath plaster and paint. On my return to Melbourne, I replaced the missing section of my studio wall with a circular fragment taken from the Helsinki studio, again plastering and painting over the insertion so that no trace of the exchange remained visible.

At its core, this project is about exchange and care. It reflects on loss and gain, concealment and revelation. When we leave home, we carry with us objects, memories, and beliefs, while leaving behind spaces to be filled. MEL/HEL/MEL considers the meaning of these exchanges, and how they shape the ways we move through and belong to the world.