Stockroom Kyneton, gallery two
05 July / 10 August 2025
TALITHA KENNEDY
Shadows Grown
In Shadows Grown, Talitha Kennedy sets out to make simple and quick tree-like shapes as a refinement of suggestive forms. They are made like taxidermy bodies; with an outer skin of leather, stuffed with polyester fibre fluff, internal wire armature structure and lead shot to weight it enough to stand on its own. Each piece is titled with an action of touch to emphasise a bodily engagement and tactile sensation. These sculptures are flexible and malleable; they can be manipulated into any shape we desire. As the maker, Kennedy is fascinated to see how others may compose what they feel looks best.
Kennedy’s way of working is intentionally intuitive. In sculptures, she often has a loose idea of a shape, like “long and skinny limbs reaching up like antennae from a fat belly base.” The leather moves on its own, stretching or leaning differently than the artist expects, and she follows its lead. Kennedy never gets bored making these shapes because each one is unique.
Talitha Kennedy takes a similarly intuitive approach to drawing. Shadows Drawn continues her drawing on crumpled paper, and the works have become more open and suggestive. By crumpling the paper, it becomes a landscape itself, not just an illusory plane representing something else; rather, the paper is present. The pen is directed by the ups and downs of the surface; going up is a climb of leaping marks, it catches on the ridge, then rolls loosely down, the ink pools in the crease of a valley where it gets stuck. Using a nib that needs to be frequently dipped into ink keeps my mark-making adventurous. Kennedy is never in full control, so the technique and mediums define the shapes that are made; drops, slip-ups, too much ink or not enough are all part of making. This is an organic methodology to make organic forms.
In the process of making, Kennedy reflects on the concepts of creation. The natural forms that she is fascinated with make her consider how they grow and the life force that shapes them. It is the universal growth cycles that she learns from observing the natural world. The way that she sees plants bud and divide echoes on a micro level in cellular reproduction, up to a macro understanding of geological forms and river systems. Her mind feels like an encyclopaedia of organic shapes from all the things she’s been looking at since she can remember, and suggestions of these wonders come to the surface.
An intuitive approach to shaping sculptures and scribbling drawings or artworks in between keeps the work alive. They are not finished or still; the drawings invite the mind to complete them, and the sculptures can be changed. This way, shadows grow from her inner world.
Talitha Kennedy has shown sculptures, drawings and installations throughout Australia. Solo shows include Artisan Brisbane, Stockroom Kyneton, Chapman & Bailey Melbourne, MARS Melbourne, Umbrella Townsville and NCCA Darwin. Her work has been curated into survey exhibitions including PRICK! Needlework Now RMIT Gallery Melbourne, Fresh Material: New Australian Textile Art, Perc Tucker Regional Gallery Townsville, Fecund: Fertile Worlds Artback NT Touring Exhibition, and Legacy: Reflections on Mabo which toured with Visions Australia (2019 – 2023) to 10 public galleries. Talitha is based in Naarm Melbourne and holds an MVA from Charles Darwin University, Darwin.
