Digital Catalogue: 2024 Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award
Kellie O'Dempsey
b. 1970 Coolum Beach QLD, lives Coolum Beach, QLD
She Does (Bathroom Scene and amber glass) , 2024
photographic installation: two framed photographs installed on faux wallpaper
edition 1/5
Photographer Jorge Serra
Image courtesy of the artist © Kellie O’Dempsey
Artist Statement
She Does (Bathroom Scene and amber glass) embodies the liminal space between dying and death, exploring the fragility and intimacy of this temporal moment.
In this work captured by Gold Coast photographer Jorge Serra, Kellie O'Dempsey reenacts care routines that were performed in her father's home a week before his passing. Through installation and performance, O'Dempsey ritualises care, questioning the societal value of caregiving in a capital-driven world. The piece reflects on the exhaustion, boredom, and quiet resilience inherent in women's often unseen labour, honouring the caretaker's role as a guardian of memories.
Movement consultation was provided by Ruby Donohoe.
About the Artist
Kellie O’Dempsey builds immersive, site-responsive installations and performances that weave together projection, collage and architectural space.
O’Dempsey’s practice, often in collaboration with other artists including musicians, dancers and photographers, interrogates and reimagines public and private space, transforming it into a shared, luminous experience. By manipulating space and perception, O'Dempsey revitalises the familiar, fostering inclusive cultural interactions. Her works, marked by playful performance, contemplative and temporal registers, and colour considerations, invite audiences to engage deeply with process, time and memory.
O’Dempsey's notable performances include the Museum of Brisbane, MONA FOMA, and the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
Mika Nakamura-Mather
Those sacred days you gave me
Chris Budgeon
UNTITLED_2267
Hameed Akinwande
Let the Boys Play