Join curator Hannah Presley for a panel conversation with the veil exhibiting artists Lisa Waup, Glenda Nicholls, Hannah Gartside and Hayley Millar Baker.

This will be a chance to hear from the artists about their practice as they discuss the ideas and connections made across the exhibition.

Buxton Contemporary will be open from 11am with the talk commencing at 1pm.

the veil
27 June 2025 – 1 November 2025

Offering a deep exploration into identity, memory and cultural resilience, the veil will journey into the realm of the spiritual, exposing otherworldly experiences that are central to our existence though often concealed. The exhibition features new commissions and recent university acquisitions across photography, film, weaving, fibre art, experimental printmaking and kinetic sculpture.

About the artists

Lisa Waup is a mixed-cultural First Nations artist and curator, born in Naarm (Melbourne), whose multidisciplinary practice encompasses a diverse range of media including weaving, printmaking, photography, sculpture, fashion and digital art. With a deep connection to the symbolic power of materials, her work reflects her personal experiences, family history, Country and broader historical narratives. Through her practice, Waup weaves together threads of lost history, ancestral relationships, motherhood and the passage of time, culminating in contemporary expressions that speak to her past, present, and future. 

Glenda Nicholls is a Waddi Waddi, Ngarrindjeri and Yorta Yorta artist. Her cultural name is Jule Yarra Minj (little river girl) and her maternal Ngarrindjeri totem is the Writcharuki (willy-willy wagtail). Nicholls is a master weaver, constructing elaborate sculptural works that connect the present with her ancestral past. During her childhood she watched her mother and grandmother use suitable plants found around the local area to crochet, knit, sew and work on traditional crafts such as feathercraft and weaving. She applies cultural weaving techniques acquired from her ancestors alongside intimate knowledge of the waterways, plants and grasses on her Country. Nicholls is determined to share her cultural knowledge with younger First Nations generations, seeing this exchange as crucial to ensuring cultural practices survive into the future. 

Hannah Gartside makes sculptures, installations and quilts using found fabric, worn clothing and the material detritus of the past. Looking backwards in order to move forwards, her works harness the potency and intimacy of these worn materials. Gartside's artworks are both deeply personal and fiercely communal and address our psychological and familial inheritances. In her work she unpicks the way that these legacies (including, more broadly, living under patriarchy and in late-stage capitalism) haunt our experience of being alive. The artworks look for new ways of feeling, as expressed through narrative and visual storytelling and, occasionally, kinetic movement or touch. By employing labour intensive cutting and sewing processes, the works are imbued with tenderness, precision and devotion. 

Hayley Millar Baker is a lens-based artist living and working in Naarm (Melbourne). Her work is deeply influenced by her Aboriginality, belonging to the Gunditjmara, Djabwurrung and Nira-Bulok Taungurung peoples through her maternal lineage, and Anglo-Indian and Luso-Brasileiro ancestry on her paternal side. This union of cultural influences shapes her perspective, grounding her practice in the exploration of Indigenous resilience and the empowerment of ancestral connection.  

Image credit: Glenda Nicholls, The Reflection Net 2024 (detail). Jute, feathers, florist tape and wire.