At PICA we recognise that we are situated within the unceded lands of the Whadjuk people of the Noongar Nation. We pay our respects and offer our gratitude to Elders past and present. We acknowledge all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the importance of their care and continued connection to culture, community and Country.

Always was, always will be.

Galleries are open 12–5pm. Our exhibitions are always free.

Emma-Lee Maher

Quick Response Residency

Quick Response Residency

Emma-Lee Maher will use her Quick Response residency at PICA to develop a collection of short memoir pieces. These stories are told through the lens of a possibly unreliable narrator; where memory is slippery, emotion distorts fact and truth is felt more than proven. These written pieces will form the basis of a series of drawings that are shaped by the tone, tension or emotional residue of the writing.  

About the artist

Emma-Lee Maher is a First Nations artist and writer. Her work, sometimes unsettling and always honest, explores memory, family and place. In 2023, she won the Kalgoorlie-Boulder First Nations Art Award for a piece described as haunting, traumatic and real … a powerful story that goes directly to the heart of Australian gothic. Her work was featured in Revealed: New and Emerging WA Aboriginal Art (2025) and profiled in Vogue Australia in August 2025. Maher’s storytelling is undaunted and layered, challenging the boundaries between fact and fiction, visual and written, self and collective memory. 


Supporters

PICA’s Studio Program is supported by PICA’s Art Ambassadors.