Bone Drift: workshops and exhibitions
Building on the original research outcome, Bone Drift was commissioned for further iterations
Bone Drift is a collaborative art-science project developed with artist and researcher Helen Pynor that explores fluid (dis)ability identities, porous boundaries between bodies and materials, and unexpected relations between people, objects and practices. Across three major iterations — at Gallery Lane Cove + Creative Studios, Bankstown Arts Centre and Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf — I worked as creative producer alongside Helen to tbring diverse communities into hands-on engagement with bone, bone china and associated making processes.
In each place-specific workshops, participants used materials such as wax, metal, thread and clay to make personal objects that reflect on embodied experience and shifting ideas of (dis)ability. Workshops were structured to be open and responsive rather than outcome-driven. Conversation emerged alongside making, with participants shaping both the pace and direction of the work. The resulting exhibitions reflected this emphasis on process, foregrounding relationships and material traces rather than polished objects alone.
Bone Drift: Wax, Bone and Thread, Gallery Lane Cove and Creative Studios
Workshop series and exhibition, 12 March - 5 April 2025
Bone Drift: Chimeric Conversations, Bankstown Art Centre
Workshop series and major exhibition, 29 March - 3 May 2025
Bone Drift, Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf
Artist in Residency (February-June 2025), workshop series and exhibition, 7 May - 1 June 2025
Images credit: Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf
My role in Bone Drift was both strategic and creative. In practical terms I produced the project — co-designing workshop structures, coordinating logistics and budgets, managing production across multiple sites, and facilitating sessions that were accessible, inclusive and generative for people with a range of backgrounds and experiences. I worked closely with Helen and partner organisations to ensure each iteration maintained a coherent conceptual thread.
At the same time, my contribution was creative and conceptual. I supported the ongoing development of the project’s thematic framing, helped shape the material and workshop logics, and contributed to how Bone Drift invited participants to hold their own lived experience and curiosity within a broader exploration of materiality and identity. This dual orientation — operational and co-creative — enabled the project to function as both rigorous research practice and meaningful public engagement, situating rich conceptual work inside accessible, embodied processes.