Metamorphosis III

Artist Statement

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Through durational performance and installation, the Metamorphosis series imagines a utopian sanctuary where expanded gender identities can be explored without disruption - a dream of a space that protects and nurtures the process of self-discovery. Each work manifests as an intricate cobweb gradually spun in response to its site.Drawing inspiration from the sanctuary-building and metamorphic practices of insects, the series pays material homage to the protective function and transitional history embedded within silk thread. These insect processes are borrowed as ritual acts that create tangible networks of queer safety and honour the continuous journey of self-exploration. Metamorphosis III is an act of reclamation. Situated in a holding cell of the old Clarence StreetPolice Station, the work occupies a site of incarceration in the heart of Australia’s ‘queer capital’,steps from the Golden Mile. Metamorphosis III hovers on this history and oers the space back to the trans community as a sanctuary.

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The Metamorphosis series is a celebration of the long process, of work put in, and of gender exploration as a radical and eternal labour of self love. Metamorphosis I: House of Annetta, London, September 2023. Duration: 14 days, 98 hoursMetamorphosis II: Karl-Heine Straße, as part of Lichtspiele des Westens, Leipzig, December 2023.Duration: 1 day, 8 hours Metamorphosis III: Gaffa Gallery, Gadigal Land/Sydney, February 2025. Duration: 13 days, 95 hours.

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Artist Bio

Sian Kelly is an emerging artist working in core disciplines of installation, sculpture, performance and drawing. Positioning themselves in the morphing, uid space beyond classification, Kelly’s practice subverts social categories by re-approaching experiences of gender, the body and the self through the exploration of non-xed states.Kelly has exhibited extensively throughout the greater Sydney region, including Hazelhurst Regional Art Centre, Stanley Street Gallery, UNSW Galleries and A&D Space. They have been short listed for such awards as the Kudos Emerging Artist and Designer Award, the Yen / Staedtler Art Award, and the TWT Excellence Award in Sydney, and the Incinerator Art Award in Melbourne.In 2020, Kelly presented their rst solo exhibitions at Kudos Gallery and Sydney Art Collective.

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Their international career launched in 2023 with their solo Metamorphosis I at House of Annetta inLondon, United Kingdom. Following this, they participated in the Pilotenkueche InternationalResidency Programme in Leipzig, Germany, where they exhibited in both the programme’s open studio and nal group exhibitions, and performed Metamorphosis II as part of Lichtspiele Des Westens. Kelly holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons) from UNSW Art and Design. Their practice is based on Gadigal Land of the Eora Nation, where Metamorphosis III also takes place. They pay their deepest respects to Elders past and present, and all First Nations people, and honour the ancient, prosperous and rich history of art making and sharing imbued in this land.

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