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.

We are open 10am–5pm. Our exhibitions are always free.

Sam Huxtable

Sam Huxtable

As a non-binary trans person, I come home to myself again and again. These moments are like a long exhale, with fleeting glimpses of safeness, relief or euphoria. Here I do not feel exposed, distrusted or pressured to exist within any physical or emotional binary framework, unless I want to.

Approaching the preciousness of an empty room and a threshold to step over alone, I will explore the act of coming home to myself, carefully and intuitively looking at the ways in which my transness grows and changes when I am alone. Performance alone differs greatly from performance to others- an intimate kind of practice that I hope will encourage an intrinsically unfeigned uncovering of self. Joy and comfort will be prioritised, pain will still be present. Trans existence is tough enough, I don’t need to push it.

Through performance, multi-media installation and digital documentation, with a focus on combining inherently transitional mediums such as clay and digital processing, I hope to build an installation that is both informed by and informs the way I move through the space. A fluid cycle of presentation and re-presentation, discovering, uncovering and recovering. Transient Space aims to house the internal unfolding and constant self-excavation that comes with existing in a body that the wider world doesn’t understand.

I acknowledge that there are infinite ways to experience transness, and this is just mine. I also acknowledge the historical and current leadership, beauty and effort of Black and Indigenous trans women. I acknowledge their immense importance within the LGBTQIA+ community, and to the world. Our lives would not be possible without them. No peace until they are safe and supported.

Sam is opening up their studio to the general public for free every Tuesday, Wednesday & Sunday between 12 – 2pm. Come in and watch as they create, or ask questions about their work and practice. 

Sam Huxtable is a queer trans person living and working on unceded Whadjuk Noongar land, in Boorloo. Their practice is multidisciplinary, exploring the queer/trans body and psyche using digital media, performance, installation and sculpture as body channel, alteration and alternative.

Sam works in real-trans-time, unfolding and evolving as their experiences with their own body, identity and community do. His work traverses the liminal cusp between body and mind, looking to reflect the complexities, fluidity and joy that trans existence endures.

For the past year Sam has been working in ceramics and hopes to continue exploring clay, in combination with digital/ other media, as a physical analogy for transness.

Sam has recently exhibited with BRAG for the Bunbury Biennale receiving an acquisitive award and held his first solo show Value Unknown at Cool Change Contemporary in late 2020. Currently, they work as a technician for ClayMake Studio.