Petrichoric: Atmospheres of Arrival Workshop with Catherine Sarah Young

Artist Catherine Sarah Young will be leading her Petrichoric: Atmospheres of Arrival workshop. This is for people aged 18 and above.

What does rain mean to you? Come and share your memories of rain through a guided sensory workshop of sounds and smells of rainfall, storms and rivers, and the scents associated with wet earth, plants, and changing weather.

Through listening, exploring scents and through conversation, participants will contribute to stories of the relationship between land and water and how rain connects people, places, and histories across time. We will also be making a rain gauge but instead of measuring rain, participants will add 'memory markers' where they write the layers of memories from the rainfalls they have experienced.

🗓️ 11am-1pm. Sunday, 8th of November 2026

📍Chrissie Cotter Gallery. 31A Pidcock St, Camperdown NSW 2050. Find info about access here

✨ This workshop is free however registrations are essential. Please register via this Humanitix webpage.

This free workshop is part of CuriousWorks' HOLDING SPACE 2026 – Rituals of Reciprocity – Land and Water program. HOLDING SPACE is funded by the NSW Government through the Multicultural NSW COMPACT Program. Our project collaborators are SSI’s Community Refugee Welcome Centre located at Callan Park, Lilyfield, and Community Partners Sydney Opera House. 

For any questions, please email CuriousWorks' HOLDING SPACE Curator Vandana Ram, at vandana@curiousworks.com.au.

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ARTIST BIO:

Dr. Catherine Sarah Young is a Filipino-Chinese interdisciplinary artist, designer, writer, and scholar. With a background in molecular biology, fine art, and interaction design, she cultivates an artscience practice by using scientific experimentation and molecular transformations in her art-making, often relating these to environmental and social issues. Catherine has an international profile, with numerous fellowships, exhibitions, and speaking engagements. She was one of ArtReview Asia’s Future Greats in 2018, a Thirteen Artist Awards recipient in the Philippines in 2021, was listed as one of the 10 Women Leading the Fight against Climate Change by Earth.org in 2024, and is an Obama Leader for Asia-Pacific. Her PhD dissertation is entitled, ‘The Ghost of Rain: Investigating Petrichor as Companion Molecules in the Critical Zones through the Arts’. She is currently a sessional academic in UNSW Sydney School of Art and Design where she mentors Master of Design students on their capstone projects framed around the UN Sustainable Development Goals.