Join exhibiting artists Akil Ahamat, Kylie Caldwell and Mandy Quadrio in conversation with guest curator Jocelyn Fynn. held by embracing droplets, is a group exhibition connecting the themes of water across galleries 2, 3 and 4. Mist and fog are embraced as symbols of this connection, harnessing the transformative properties of water in its various states. In this conversation, the artists will discuss the process and ideas underpinning new commissions created for this exhibition.
Free, no bookings required.
About the artists
Akil Ahamat is a Sri Lankan Malay artist and filmmaker currently based on Gadigal and Bidjigal lands of the Eora nation. In their work, they animate the non-human to talk to it. In the crinkles and whispers of these conversations, shapes of the inhuman forces that govern our lives emerge, as well as our relationships to them. Recent exhibitions include Extinguishing Hope, UTS Gallery and West Space, Gadigal and Naarm; Distance is a blade, The Physics Room, Christchurch; The Churchie Emerging Art Prize, Institute of Modern Art, Meanjin; Language Is a River, Monash University Museum of Art, Naarm; and After Technology, UTS Gallery, Gadigal.
Kylie Caldwell is a multidisciplinary artist from the Bundjalung Nation in Northern Rivers, NSW. Her practice is deeply connected to her culture, identity and lived experiences, exploring values and stories. Caldwell is an artist drawn to the quiet power of emotion, memory, and human connection. Her work lives at the intersection of vulnerability, contradictions and strength. Through layered textures and thoughtful composition, she creates pieces that feel both intimate and expansive.
Mandy Quadrio is a Brisbane-based artist, and her practice spans sculpture, installation, video and photography. As part of the Tasmanian diaspora, Quadrio descends from the Trawlwoolway people of north-east Lutruwita /Tasmania, and the Laremairremenner people of Oyster Bay Nation, eastern Lutruwita. She is also of Anglo-Irish heritage. Through her work, Quadrio seeks to expose and repair Indigenous Australian historical trauma. Her work has been shown in major national institutions including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (2025-2027), the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane (2026), Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane (2025), Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne (2023), as well as the TarraWarra Biennale in Victoria (2021). In 2021, she was commissioned to make a permanent work for the new gallery at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery (QVMAG), Tasmania. Quadrio was awarded her Doctorate in Visual Arts (DVA) from Griffith University in 2021. She currently lectures in the Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art (CAIA) program at Queensland College of Art and Design, Griffith University, Brisbane.
Jocelyn Flynn is Notsi from Niu Ailan province, Papua Niugini with Anglo-Celtic lineages. Responding to memories, stories and traditions of her heritage, Flynn investigates the meeting points of geo-politics, history and culture in contemporary art from the Great Ocean region. She holds a Bachelor of Humanities in Art History from the University of Queensland. She is currently Assistant Curator at the University of Queensland Art Museum.
