Exhibitions

Global Studio India: Artisan Textiles, was an exhibition of works produced in 2016 by UTS Fashion and Textiles students in collaboration with the Kullu Karishma Weave Studio, Tharangini Prints, and the Calantha Fashion Studio.

For this Global Studio, students were interviewed and selected for two very different programs according to their interest and design strengths. One group attended the Kullu Karishma Weave Studio based in the Himalayas and the second group went to Bangalore where they worked with an internationally recognised woodblock studio known as Tharangini Prints.

Throughout the program, the UTS students undertook a process of observation and reflection, which would guide the development of their final designs. On exhibition were the woven and woodblock printed samples produced by the students demonstrating the application of ancient artisan techniques applied in contemporary practice.

Cyanotypes: New Perspectives showcased the work of five young UTS designers and artists working with the cyanotype process. Cyanotype is one of the earliest photographic processes dating back to the 1840s and was traditionally used to create and reproduce blueprints. The emulsion can be coated onto many surfaces and, when exposed to sunlight, creates a negative print in shades of cyan.

The artists featured in the exhibition challenge the technical origins of the cyanotype through active experimentation with chemical processes, subject matter, and materials. The resulting artworks move towards a new aesthetic - one that borrows from digital culture to reinterpret it in analogue.

Featured UTS student artists: Rebecca Seeto, Poppy Rodrigues, Emily Kraljevic, Aaron Patterson, Zara Hartwig.

An exhibition of textile works produced by UTS Fashion and Textiles students in collaboration with Yantai Nanshan University, Longkou.

This Global Studio involved students travelling to Hong Kong and mainland China (Shandong Province) over a two-week program. Students were given the chance to explore local cultural textile applications as well as textile production in urban Hong Kong. Presentations from industry professionals introduced participants to global textile practices and provided context for Hong Kong Fashion Week sessions the students attended through Savannah College of Art and Design.

UTS Library hosted a photographic exhibition of selected works by Therese Sweeney - On the Fringes: South West Sydney 1994-2014. The freely available, online collection explores social history and cultural life on the outskirts of South-Western Sydney. Recorded through photography, audio interviews, and video footage, the collection documents the communities of Green Valley and its traditional market gardening communities.

“My motivation was to challenge and redress the long history of negative press and social research depicting my community of origin as bleak and desperate. I aimed to produce images that were born out of collaboration, research, respect and relationship with residents." - Therese Sweeney, photographer.