4 – 5 October
6pm – 9pm
Scuola industriale
Free event
4 – 5 October
6pm – 9pm
Scuola industriale
Free event
‘This work developed from wandering the grounds, stalking the corridors, reading the texts and imagining the tales, the ghosts that I hope find their love now, if not then.’
An immersive installation by former Abbotsford Convent Artist-in-Residence Dr Lisa Anderson, as she searched for the secret and imagined stories of women who were once residents associated with the Convent’s gardens, school and laundry. The work uses sound, video and sculptural forms.
This is a 2 night only experience, a fleeting chance to experience a time that will always be with us in the shadows and architecture of the place, in every scratch, mark and peeling paint, the marks of what has been – to experience a queer past within a queer present.
Friday 4 October – Saturday 5 October
6pm – 9pm
Scuola industriale
FREE exhibition, no booking required.
As Artist-In-Residence at Abbotsford Convent in 2024, Lisa’s interests have resided with hidden characters, with the otherness of places embodied in stories tall and true, in gods and ghosts of histories and how their impact marks in often unseen ways, the topography, structures and ambience of place. Anderson sought the presence of imaginary queer ghosts in a place designed to keep ‘wayward’ women and girls, at a time when queer love was forbidden. This was all Lisa could see in the tales and photos of the time.
The infrared photography of Abbotsford Convent created for video installations brings this otherworldly experience to the Convent. The collaged video works coupled with the installations the poetic sounds and words create an immersive experience.
Dr. Lisa Anderson
Created and exhibited internationally for over 40 years undertaking exploration and scientific residencies working with landscape/urbanscape/topographies through a prism of stories found in folklore and superstition as memories of place.
Residencies included remote locations in the High Arctic and Antarctic and locations such as Paris, London, Ireland and Iceland. Installations for the St Tropez Antipodes, Boston Lights, Mardi Gras 798 in Beijing and the Toronto, Hong Kong and Amsterdam Art Fairs by London Gallery Bicha while locally at Customs House in Sydney and Wollongong and Ballarat City Galleries. As the Rupert Bunny Fellow 2023 for Port Phillip creating the exhibition Beguiling at the Victorian Pride Centre with images using tales of gods and sprites that help explain nature.
Dr Anderson is the 2024 Artist-in-Residence at Abbotsford Convent working with the queer ghosts of memory and the folklore that surrounds them. Anderson’s work is in public and corporate collections internationally.
Scuola industriale is wheelchair accessible. There is step-free access to the venue. Wheelchair users enter at the main entrance. There are uneven footpaths throughout the grounds.
There are 2 two-hour accessible on-street parking spaces located on St Heliers Street, beside Main Gate. There are six accessible parking places are located at the front of the car park on the northern side of St Heliers Street. There is also a car park located within a short distance of Main Gate. The entrance is near a dedicated pedestrian thoroughfare and road cross over.
There are accessible toilets at this venue, though not all toilet doors are automatic.
