Lisa Waup: Out of Hand

Agency Projects is pleased to host Lisa Waup’s Out of hand. 

This immersive exhibition creates a multi-sensory environment that centres fashion within contemporary art practice.

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In January 2026, Lisa travelled to India to undertake a textile residency at the esteemed Tharangini Studio in Bengaluru. The residency offered an opportunity to deepen cross-cultural exchange through traditional Indian textile practices, with a focus on hand-carved block printing and other artisan-led techniques. Lisa’s practice challenges boundaries of art, fashion, and craft, positioning textiles as powerful vehicles for cultural storytelling and contemporary expression.

Lisa has a long-held belief in textiles and fashion, as sites of experimentation and narrative. This approach was notably realised in her 2017 collaboration with Australian label VERNER, later curated into the National Survey of Indigenous Fashion 2019. The 2026 residency extended this trajectory, exploring wearable art as an evolving artistic language grounded in ethical making and cultural legacy.

During the residency, Lisa collaborated directly with Indian artisan communities, printing onto paper, raw textiles, and bespoke finished garments. Materials including ethically sourced cotton, linen, and silk, alongside natural dyes like Indigo and turmeric and hand embroidery. The carving and printing processes were all digitally documented to form an integral part of the final exhibition outcome.

This extensive research and development culminates in this varied presentation of Lisa’s work, including:

• Finished garments presented as sculptural wearable artworks- limited edition 

• Limited edition body adornment 

• Garments made in collaboration with local makers and printers

• An exclusive selection of styles for makers to sew at home 

• Dramatic lengths of printed textiles suspended from the ceiling

• Fashion-art photography displayed as visual narrative

• Projected digital documentation of artisan processes and residency collaboration

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Lisa Waup is a mixed-cultural First Nations artist and curator, born in Narrm (Melbourne), whose multidisciplinary practice spans weaving, printmaking, photography, sculpture, fashion, and digital art. Her work is grounded in a deep connection to materiality and storytelling, using symbolic forms and textures to express lived experience, cultural identity, and connection to Country.

Peter Naughton is a textile consultant who has seeded multiple cross-cultural collaborations with First Nations Australian artists since 2021. 

His seminal work with Babbarra: Art centre has won multiple awards,  presented in solo International exhibitions resulting in  a National Gallery acquisition of the collection. 

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Saturday 31st October. 2-5PM

Agency Projects, 47 Easey Street

Images courtesy of Lisa Waup. Photography by Carlin John Stephenson.