Metamorphosis III by Sian Kelly

Sian Kelly is an emerging artist working in core disciplines of installation, sculpture, performance and drawing.

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 Street Police 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 offers the space back to the trans community as a sanctuary. 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.