Out-of-Place Talismans (tails + teeth), 2026, letterpress drawers, brass, bronze, 42 x 82cm each

Saved from a fire-damaged printing press in Richmond, these timber drawers bear the scorched impressions of missing metal type. The letters are gone, yet their outlines remain; burned into the wood like residual scripts or chalk tracings. Language has been evacuated, leaving only its negative. Within these compartments rest twelve small metal forms: casts of the artist’s extracted wisdom teeth and six hand-formed tails suggestive of cats or monkeys. Sized to the palm, they operate as talismanic objects—tokens of luck, protection or private ritual. Teeth, once embedded in the body, and tails, evolutionary remnants of balance and communication, become minor monuments to instinct and survival. Placed within the charred grid of a former printing system, the works stage a quiet exchange between inscription and loss. Where language once organised meaning, small votive forms now sit.

Exhibited as part of the solo exhibition (It is Necessary to) Learn to Swim at project8 gallery Melbourne
Photos: Lucy Foster and project8 gallery ((It is Necessary to) Learn to Swim)

February - April 2026