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.

Prema Arasu, James Carey, Jenna Lee, Darrell Sibosado

Flow States: Conversations on Water 

Flow States: Conversations on Water 

PICA invites you to celebrate the opening weekend of our new Bunuru season with artist talks, curator tours and a panel conversation. 

Threaded throughout the opening season are ideas of water. Water connects us all, shaping landscapes, cultures and futures. Flow States: Conversations on Water brings together artists and researchers to explore the elemental, political and poetic dimensions of water in contemporary life. Expanding on this theme, the panel invites artists, cultural leaders and researchers to reflect on their relationships with this vital element. 

Through dialogue across creative practice, civic life and cultural exchange, the discussion examines how water sustains, divides and inspires—from rising seas to ritual and memory. 

Register below

About the facilitator

Prema Arasu (they/she) is an adjunct research fellow within the School of English with a specialisation in creative writing and the environmental humanities. Prema has a strong interest in speculative fiction, experimental forms, sea monsters, mythology, multispecies ethnography, oceanic poetics, posthumanities and animalities, and the theory and praxis of worldbuilding.

Prema holds a BA (Hons) in English and Cultural Studies from UWA, a Master of Letters (MLitt) in Modern and Contemporary Literature and Culture from the University of St. Andrews, and a PhD in Creative Writing from UWA. Their PhD dissertation, titled The Anatomy of Witchcraft: Gender in Secondary Worlds is a full-length work of fantasy that draws upon queer and feminist scholarship to investigate and subvert the expectations of gender from within the genre. In 2023 The Anatomy of Witchcraft was shortlisted for the Fremantle Press Fogarty Literary Award.

From 2022 to 2025, Prema completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre. Prema is interested in the construction of the ocean depths in the cultural imagination as demonstrated by all aspects of popular culture, including nature documentaries, horror films, video games, and science fiction literature.

 

About the artists

James Carey is an artist and academic with over twenty years experience exhibiting both nationally and internationally. Carey works across multiple mediums, interrogating labour, environmental, cultural, reconciliation, and political systems. Carey was an artist in residence at MPRG 2025, and recent projects include pond[er] in collaboration with Taylor Knights, NGV Architecture commission, Melbourne (2021), and some alchemies [heavy breathing], RMIT Project Space, Melbourne (2022).

Jenna Lee (born 1982, Canberra) is a Gulumerridjin (Larrakia), Wardaman, and KarraJarri woman with Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, and Anglo-Australian (Irish and Scottish) ancestry. Lee’s practice centres on exploring language, materiality, and the transformation of inherited narratives. Deeply intrigued by what is lost in translation, Lee explores the spaces between words—the felt but unseen—capturing the subtleties that surround language. Her work channels these overlooked nuances into immersive installations, works on paper, sculpture, and multimedia.

Lee’s practice has been recognised through numerous awards, including the 2024 Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize, the 2023 Hazelhurst Art on Paper Award (Emerging Artist), the 2023 Australian Book Design Association Award for Emerging Designer, the 2020 Wandjuk Marika 3D Memorial Award (NATSIAA), and the 2019 Dreaming Award (National Indigenous Art Award, Australia Council). She has also been a finalist in major prizes such as the 2024 Wynne Prize, the 68th Blake Art Prize, and the National Works on Paper Prize.

Lee’s work has been showcased in national and international institutions, including the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; TarraWarra Museum of Art, Healesville, Victoria; and the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford. 

Darrell Sibosado (born 1966, Port Hedland, Western Australia) is a Bard man from Lombadina, situated on the Dampier Peninsula of the Kimberley coast, Western Australia. His practice explores the innovative potential of the riji (pearl shell) designs within a contemporary context. Passed down over countless generations, the designs represent the detached scales of Aalingoon, the Rainbow Snake, as he rests on the ocean surface, shedding his scales containing traditional knowledge and beliefs.

Through his printmaking and installations, Sibosado reflects on traditional Bard lore and is intent on reiterating that Aboriginal culture is a living, adaptive culture that undeniably commands a presence in the contemporary space. Sibosado’s artwork has gained significant national and international recognition, exhibited at prestigious institutions such as the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth; the Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; the Cairns Regional Gallery; and Murray Art Museum, Albury. He was also featured in the 24th Biennale of Sydney in 2024, a milestone event in his career. His work has been privately commissioned and is part of important public collections including the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; Fondation Opale, Lens, Switzerland; and Cartier Foundation, Paris, France. 

Supporters

PICA’s events are made possible thanks to the support of our Community Engagement Partner, City of Perth. 

City of Perth, City of Light

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