Inside her studio at Abbotsford Convent, current artist-in-residence Kate Davis has built what she half-jokingly calls a “decomposition lab.” Perspex boxes hold flowers in various stages of decay. Petals collapse inward and mould spores appear. Colour drains. Forms soften. Nearby, hair gathered from her own brush has been used to create delicate nests as a signifier of what remains after the body is gone.
It may sound macabre, but instead, it feels contemplative.
Kate’s three-month residency at the Convent has become a space of deep exploration into death, decomposition and legacy, and the ways art can gently open conversations many of us avoid. Working across installation, sculpture, photography, video and community engagement, she describes the period as “playtime”.
It’s a rare and valuable stretch of experimentation without a fixed outcome.
“I’ve been doing lots of weird,” she says, laughing. “Experimenting with different mediums. Videoing dying flowers. Pinning them like specimens. Seeing what happens.”
That freedom to follow an idea wherever it leads is central to the Abbotsford Convent’s residency program. Unlike the pressure of an exhibition deadline, this is time structured around process rather than product.
“Three months is absolute gold,” Kate says. “When you’re making, space is crucial. Without that, it doesn’t feel possible.”
For an artist whose practice spans floristry, installation and death work, that room to think has been transformative.
Kate has recently trained as a death doula, supporting individuals and families through end-of-life processes. That work now feeds directly into her art. “So much of what I do as a death doula is provide information, offer support and listen” she explains.
“People supporting a dying loved one may ask, ‘What can I do? How can I do it?’ Sharing knowledge is invaluable and empowering. But it’s also navigating this process within real life structures and family dynamics. It’s such a delicate space.”
Her residency will culminate in a “Death Salon” on 29 March, an elevated interpretation of the global Death Café movement.
Threaded through all of this is a meditation on legacy. Hair, one of the few parts of the human body that does not readily decompose, becomes both material and metaphor. What do we leave behind? What traces endure? What dissolves?
The Convent’s unique ecosystem is propelling her, too.
“Conversations with other artists are really important,” Kate says. “The possibilities are endless to engage, have a drink, talk about our work and feel connected.”
Residency opportunities like this are increasingly rare. Space, time and community – without rigid deliverables – allow artists to take risks, test ideas and develop work that may not yet have a defined shape.
“As artists we rarely get a chance to just be in process,” Kate reflects.
Surrounded by flowers in decline and forms in transition, Kate Davis is not simply making work about death. She is making space for process, for dialogue, and for a deeper literacy around the inevitable.
Learn more about the Abbotsford Convent Studio Residency program