Deborah Kelly: The Final Ritual of C.U.L.T

The Library has been transformed through Deborah Kelly’s sacred act of collage. Come gather at the altar of paper... The Final Ritual of C.U.L.T requests your presence.

We have experienced the different sacred stages of C.U.L.T — Cutting, Collaging, Colouring and Composing — Using Library things. Now, finally, we are ready to be initiated. Join us at The Final Ritual of C.U.L.T, a celebration of UTS Library's 2025 Creative in Residence project by multidisciplinary artist Deborah Kelly. 

Dig a little deeper to unravel the mysteries of C.U.L.T, hear Deborah dive into her residency and practice, and take part in the rituals of exploring colour and composition over drinks and a bite. Commune with the forgotten. Unravel your mind. Experience a creative revival. 

Please RSVP for catering purposes.

Event Details 

• 5:30 PM: Drinks, grazing and chitty chat 

• 6:00 PM: Conversation with Deborah Kelly 

• 7:00 PM: Choose your own adventure 

About C.U.L.T (Collaging Using Library Things)  

Over the course of the residency, Deborah Kelly engaged in the radical act of repurposing outdated books and materials and transforming them into something new. Deborah has produced several final works that will live within the fabric of UTS Library. Through collaborating with our community in the processes of cutting, colouring, and collaging, new life has been breathed into discarded resources, inviting us to reflect on our deep connection to nature, the life cycle of books, and the kinship we share with trees. This was a project about transformation, kinship, and reimagining. 

About Deborah Kelly 

Deborah Kelly is an artist who blurs the boundaries between art, politics, and collective creation. Working across collage, installation, event, and performance, her practice explores the unseen forces that connect us — to each other, to history, and to the natural world. Over the past decade, Deborah has been experimenting with methods of collaboration. Her workshops, hosted across Australia and internationally in cities like Leipzig, London, Istanbul, Bandung, and Berlin, have generated dance steps, iconography, portraiture, textiles, and text. 

Her current long-term artwork, CREATION, is a queer science fiction climate change religion that reimagines our relationship with the planet and each other.