Artist Talk: Making through Illness

SICK AF delves into the personal narratives of artists who have navigated life-altering illness or injury, using contemporary craft and the arts as powerful tools for expression and healing.

This Artist Talk, facilitated by our Artistic Director - Galleries Alex Desebrock, will unpack the themes of the exhibition, explore each artist’s practice, and consider the balance between art as profession and art as a means of survival, care, and recovery.

Ron Bradfield Jnr, a Bard, Jawi man of the saltwater peoples around Djarindjin, Western Australia, exhibits a work in SICK AF responding to his experience of cancer. Ron draws on familiar cultural objects and memories to reframe how we understand place, history, and Aboriginal and Islander realities.

Melissa Cameron is a Western Australian artist with degrees in interior architecture and jewellery and metalsmithing. Her work in SICK AF takes the form of a “medicinal dress,” responding to the tactile experience of silk through the lens of living with a chronic skin condition.

sarsby is a disabled, neurodiverse, non-binary multidisciplinary artist and writer living and working in Kepa Kurl / Esperance. Their practice spans writing, photography, illustration, public art, and experimental visual work, with a strong focus on language as both a tool and a provocation.

This talk is for anyone who has experienced - or supported someone through - life-altering illness or injury. It is also for artists and creatives interested in the exhibition and the layered relationships between art, identity, and healing.

Complimentary tea & coffee provided, bar will be open to purchase drinks.

Click here for more information about the SICK AF exhibition.

The SICK AF tour and public programs are made possible through the Regional Exhibition Touring Boost with support from the WA Government and delivered by ART ON THE MOVE.

Photography credits:
Ron Bradfield Jnr wearing his artwork In Plain Sight 2019. Photographer: Sue-Lyn Moyle, 2019

sarsby in their studio. Photographer: sarsby

Melissa Cameron. Photo supplied.