Transforming Impressions: HARD/SOFT Exhibition

Chin-Jie Melodie Liu

Coming from a printmaking background, I often reflect on the laborious nature of the medium, considering how images are defined and what it means to make repeated impressions. HARD/SOFT explores these questions. The dichotomy of the title is explored in the four captivating and intimate bodies of work that disrupt the traditional printmaking environment of Megalo Print Studio. 

The soft sculptures of Linda Sok and Fergus Berney-Gibson transform the gallery into a dynamic space. Sok’s vibrant cloths, boldly hung in the corner, draw one in with their intriguing motifs of a temple, gourds, fauna, and other life forms. The pattern was created in collaboration with family members who sketched destroyed sacred Cambodian temple weavings from French archival descriptions, where the only record of their existence remains. It was then screenprinted onto Sok’s own silk weavings, consisting of two panels with patchwork connected by layers of threads and clay rods. The indistinct, blurred outlines from printing on textiles create movement within the piece, transforming and providing new narratives in the reimagined scenery. 

Obscured bodily shapes can be found in Berney-Gibson’s fabric sculpture, constructed of a series of socks stretched across towel racks. There is a distortion of not only photographs, but also the material process that is essential to the work. In a spin on a common image transfer technique, eucalyptus oil is supplemented with amyl nitrate, a chemical compound commonly known as “poppers” and often used as a party drug. In understanding this and Berney-Gibson’s exploration of fraternal interactions, the manipulated picture becomes increasingly legible, where identifiable body parts, such as an ear and fingers, are rendered visible. As details emerge with each glance, the presentation of the sea of socks also plays on a duality of environments, between the seen and unseen, and the domestic and the public. 

Across from Berney-Gibson is Annabelle McEwen’s three-part installation that also centres the body through image and material experimentation. A square chainmail with a colour photograph of a flexed back dangles above a skirting board. A petite silver chaise-like sculpture sits atop a low platform ahead, accompanied by a cement relief of an ambiguous apparatus. Derived from exercise equipment, another set of impressions made of chocolate protein powder and resin is displayed on the wall. McEwen examines gender expectations and societal pressures through strength training, testing the boundaries of matter and mark making. Grounded in the printmaking principle of transferring images, McEwen plays with the positive and negative through unconventional technologies of hydrographic dipping, 3D printing, and photogrammetry.

Lastly, dispersed along the back wall are a trio of dainty shell-like objects by Maddison Wandel. Organically shaped with deep, tiered sunken lines, they are reminiscent of fossils. Instead of tracing specimens, they document abuse in the domestic environment. Cast from damaged surfaces of walls and door frames, the positioning of each piece creates a profile of an interior that echoes the gallery. The use of pewter to record impact solidifies and exposes violence, serving as witnesses to trauma created in often overlooked spaces. This refined, recreated landscape is in dialogue with Sok’s weaving and is described by the curators as ‘gentle aesthetics’ in distilling difficult histories into an approachable, tender form. 

The intentional and expanded ways printmaking concepts have been used in the range of works in HARD/SOFT is refreshing. They showcase the transformative potential of the medium through innovative ways of informing and creating conversations. Each artist balances an element of hard and soft conceptually and materially, which will continue to challenge and inspire new ways of approaching print.

Chin-Jie Melodie Liu is a Taiwanese and American artist, curator, and writer based in Kamberri/Canberra. Her interdisciplinary practice is informed by her heritage with a focus on contested histories and collective memory. She is interested in varying forms of creative collaboration and the use of text as visual material.

She holds a Master of Museum and Heritage Studies and a double degree with a Bachelor of Visual Arts (First Class Honours) and a Bachelor of Arts (French & International Relations) from the Australian National University. Liu studied at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Paris on an exchange.

In 2024, she was a Curationist Fellow and a participant in the National Gallery of Australia’s Young Writers Digital Residency.