At Florence Peel Centre Jacqui Shelton and Mel Deerson developed their audio-visual work and collaborative performance practice.

Over 12 months this collaborative project focused on the exploration of experimental embodied and vibratory sounds, inviting the community to participate in workshops lead by composer Aarti Jadu.

Jacqui Shelton is an artist and writer born on Barada Barna land, central QLD, and based in Narrm, Melbourne. Her work uses text, performance, film-making and photography to explore the complications of performance and presence, and how voice, language, and image can collaborate or undermine one another. Jacqui is especially interested in how emotion and embodied experience can be made public and activated to reveal a complex politics of living-together, and the tensions this makes visible. She has produced exhibitions and performance works in association with numerous Australian and international institutions. Jacqui teaches at Monash University and RMIT, and holds a PhD from Monash University.

Mel Deerson is an artist and writer, working both on their own and collaboratively on Wurundjeri land. Over the past year they have been making intimate vocal soundworks, drawings and videos which map and embody various inner and outer worlds. Words that feel important to Mel’s current practice include: alchemy, vulnerability, love, play and world-building.

Image: Cry Carpet, Jacqui Shelton, Alice Heyward and Megan Payne. Image by Keelan O'Hehir.