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, and to those emerging leaders in the community. 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 closed today. Our exhibitions are always free.

Hatched Open Studios

Hatched Open Studios

Presented as part of Hatched: National Graduate Show 2024, the Hatched artist-in-residence program offers a month-long residency to one WA-based and one interstate artist. This opportunity provides time and space for the artists to embark on new projects and be a part of PICA’s creative community. 

Hatched Open Studios/After Dark invites you to go behind the scenes of PICA’s artists-in-residence program when Kasia Kolikow and Frances Malcomson open their studio doors to unveil their works-in-progress. Facilitated by John Curtin Gallery Curator Lia McKnight, the artists will speak about their practice, the outcomes of their residency and their experience exhibiting in Hatched.

With food and drinks on us, experience the exhibition after hours and gain insight from two Hatched artists.

Lia McKnight is an artist and curator based in Walyalup (Fremantle) WA. Within both practices, her research seeks to speculate on the shifting parameters of identity and context. Lia graduated from Edith Cowan University with a BA Visual Arts in 1997. She began a Master of Arts Administration at COFA, UNSW in 2002, before heading back to WA in 2003 to start a family. She completed a Master of Arts, Cultural Heritage at Curtin University in 2005 and worked as an Independent Curator before joining the John Curtin Gallery where she currently works as a Curator. In her art practice, themes of transformation, memory and trauma intertwine with observations of the natural world. Her work is held in private and public collections including Murdoch University, Curtin University, City of Perth and City of Joondalup.

Kasia  Kolikow  is a multidisciplinary artist with an affinity for textiles owing to her background in fashion and textile design. As a first generation Australian, and a woman born with a physical disability, Kolikow seeks to understand her place in this multi-layered world; living in a rented home located in an expensive inner-city suburb, in a country she was born in but feels culturally distant from, and in a society by which she is often othered, despite many efforts for inclusivity and accessibility. Kolikow looks to make sense of her identities through the process of slow-making, allowing meaning and woven facets of herself to emerge in the work. An interest in place-making and making space reveals itself through Kolikow’s investigation of home; a longing for and search for belonging that can be found in places of comfort and safety. 

Frances  Malcomson while practicing printmaking focuses the unattended plants that infiltrate city sites, ongoing engagements in noticing and bringing to notice the overlooked urban nature of her immediate neighbourhoods. She builds bodies of unique state mono prints through printing directly with weeds gathered from such sites. In substituting weed species for culturally valued botanicals, Malcomson engages with the query of contemporary botanical art and aligns interpretations with post-humanist philosophies of environmental aesthetics. In the sensitivity of response, she unsettles idealized botanical art narratives, questioning power and control in our perceptions of what is valued in nature.  

Supporters

PICA’s Residency Program is supported by PICA’s Art Ambassadors and North Metropolitan TAFE. Hatched is made possible by the generosity of PICA’s Art 1000 Donors and our Major Exhibition Partners. The Doctor Harold Schenberg Arts Awards are made possible by funds bequeathed to The University of Western Australia by Dr Harold Schenberg.

The University of Western Australia