2021

Elizabeth Pedler

Hatched Alumni: 2010

Elizabeth Pedler is an independent artist and Curtin University sessional academic, focused on a dialogic approach to collaboration. Interested in the range of participation possible in art, Elizabeth’s practice spans from playful and interactive installations to collaborative relational aesthetics. Identity, food, and community involvement are areas of particular focus, engaging with audiences through the sharing of experiences and storytelling. In 2018 in collaboration with Daisy Sanders and Alex Desebrock, Elizabeth co-founded FLOCK  an artist support network and artist-run initiative that provides Perth artists from all disciplines with advocacy and professional development opportunities.  Throughout 2019-2021 Elizabeth has been working with the community of Wellstead (WA), in an ongoing collaboration investigating shared identity, place, and approaches to the environment, explored in video and audio storytelling, supported by International Art Space as part of the Spaced 4 program.

 

What does Hatched mean to you?’

Hatched was the first time I saw myself as an equal among other artists. Putting my work on display at PICA, I saw audiences interact with the mobile I’d created; people I’d never met before were engaging with my work. This was validating, and it also created relationships with other artists in the exhibition, and those who came to see it. As the lights I’d put together flickered on and off, I saw my work alongside other artists I respected, and I saw myself as a practitioner in a community. It’s sometimes alienating working as an independent artist, but Hatched connected me to a network of peers who were just as invested as I am, and whose contributions and voices continue to support the community I’m a part of. My practice has shifted since Hatched. I’m less focused on objects, and more on experiences and how people and things connect. But the central concern remains the same  how do we share something? How are we connected  to places, to practices, and to each other? Hatched will stick in my mind as a moment that I shared with an amazing group of artists, and that fostered an ongoing connection, with audiences and artists alike.