Matilda Davis ‘Hold On To An Ice Cube’

The Cleaning of The Wounds, 2022, Oil on linen and satin ribbon, 40cm x 30cm

Hold On To An Ice Cube is a solo exhibition of oil paintings by Matilda Davis from 10 September to 1 October 2022. In the spirit of Surrealism, the small compositions are steeped in mystery and strangeness that lead the viewer to the edge of the unknown.

Carefully studied subjects surface in the painted dream scenes and symbols. Feeding on memory and emotion, Davis’ artworks are both playfully alluring and foreboding. Across five works, we see a bandaged lion’s paw, and a butterfly of flesh taking flight after splintering from a horse’s back. What appears as a maze, upon closer inspection, is a pinwheel of ribbons, and a set of pan scales, creating equilibrium between a single oyster and a stick of butter, floating between is a gold signet ring and a necklace of pearls. In the final work, a veiled mirror emerges from the swampy mangroves of a wetland reflecting light back up in to a luminescent sky and basking under an eerie full moon. Davis’ fantastic hallucinatory scenes encourage exploration of one’s own psyche. They welcome reflection on our own internal worlds as she opens the door to something remote and revered.

Matilda Davis’ Hold On To An Ice Cube is a courageous body of work described by the artist as a process of “dipping a toe” into the visceral. The pieces are an expression of loss, grief, and anguish, where reality is experienced through a fantastical lens. As Davis continues dissecting, purging, and cleansing, she allows the viewer the possibility to imagine that there could be more to come – and feared – just outside of the frame.

Dates: 10 September– 1 October 2022
Hours: Thursday to Saturday, 12:00–6:00pm

View the exhibition catalogue

Hear Matilda Davis in conversation with Louise Klerks

Find out more about Matilda Davis

Listen to Tai Snaith’s exhibition review on 102.7FM

This exhibition is part of a new initiative led by Missing Persons to increase the visibility and exhibition opportunities of emerging women artists in the Australian arts, supported by the City of Melbourne through their Annual Arts Grants

NCAT Photography

PENUMBRA

PENUMBRA is a group exhibition and silent auction presented by NCAT Photography students enrolled in the Certificate IV and Diploma of Photography and Digital Imaging courses.

The group of emerging artists: Angus Armstrong, Callum Bardon, Abhinav Biju, Monique Dudley, Cody Fusca, Amity Poskitt-McDonald, Hanako Muller, Dylan Negri, Bingham Thurgate, Rhiannon Winter, and Morgan Wyley will present their analogue photography (unique gelatin silver prints) for sale, with all proceeds of the exhibition donated to the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service.

The exhibition is for one night only with a silent auction to commence at 6:00pm and conclude at 8:00pm.

Date: Friday 19 August, 5:30–8:30pm

MELBOURNE FRINGE FESTIVAL 2022

The Interlude
Written and Directed by Holly Brindley


A group of young friends meet for an unnerving getaway in this experimental screen installation. Step into a quiet space and immerse yourself in the hypnotic world of The Interlude.

Time passes slowly as friends Chi, Adam, Conor, Bec and Elias dance, discuss creative endeavours and play listless games during a lacklustre staycation. The work explores the unease of entering one’s early twenties amidst intense uncertainty, examining fear and futility with dark humour. The premiere screen work from artist Holly Brindley is a blend of narrative film and video art that spotlights everyday interaction until it becomes hyperreal.

This is a free, unticketed, drop-in event as part of Melbourne Fringe Festival 

Dates: 14–16 October 2022
Hours: Friday to Saturday, 1:00pm–10.30pm, Sunday, 10:00am–5:30pm

MELBOURNE FRINGE FESTIVAL 2022

Tremor
Choreographed by Kayla Douglas

Tremor is an experimental contemporary dance work by emerging artist Kayla Douglas. In this 50-minute work, dancers Kristen Cafari and Misch Kurzeme reconcile with their stored experiences through the navigation and examination of the emotional body. By making the subconscious conscious again, the dancers work together to untangle memories from their musculature and viscera to return to a place of inner calm and stability.

Visit Melbourne Fringe Festival for tickets and performance times.

Dates: Thursday 20 – Saturday 22 October 2022

By Chance the Future

Amy Rudder 

LONDON. 2001. It’s the new millennium, with a minute more of pre-mobile phone, pre-terrorism hysteria, pre-social media life to live. Jackie escapes Sydney suburbia. She’s an outsider with a bad haircut. Wild mood swings. She knows everything. She knows nothing.

Why was Sef kicked out of the hostel?

Immigration detention, drum and bass, Berlusconi’s boys’ club. Spearmint Rhinos, capital cash flows, Stephen Lawrence’s murder … By Chance the Future is a story that shows how reflecting on where we were 20 years ago can tell us where we are today—at a distance, with hindsight—if only we look.

Amy Rudder’s debut book blends travel writing, philosophical treatise, self-deprecating comedy and political criticism; the author highlighting both our very human hypocrisy and genuine attempts to connect, and the singularity and the sameness of our youthful adventures as we attempt to individuate from our families and countries of origin.

Join us for the Melbourne book launch. Register here.

Date: Friday, 23 April from 6:00pm–8:00pm

Download a copy of the Media Release.

The Little Theatre Presents

God’s Own Pawn Shop
A Reading in Two Parts


Missing Persons invites you to God’s Own Pawn Shop, a new performance by The Little Theatre that tells an imaginary and fragmented tale of possession, capitalism, domestic violence and the redemptive power of love. God’s Own Pawn Shop holds as many stories of hope and despair as it does redeemable goods.

The Little Theatre is the creation of Daylesford artist Jeff Stewart. With a varied career exhibiting drawings and paintings – as well as working as an artist in youth and adult detention and various community groups – for the past seven years Jeff’s interests in art, writing and performance have taken shape in the intimate shows of The Little Theatre. Scripted and performed by Jeff in front of audiences of less than 20 people, each show takes place inside a handcrafted portable booth known in the world of puppetry as a castelet. In this intimate setting, audiences closely encounter the vivid stories and the hand-painted set designs that house them.

God’s Own Pawn Shop features live narration by Jeff’s longtime collaborator Stuart Grant. Formerly a senior lecturer at the Centre For Theatre and Performance at Monash University, Stuart is also founding co-director of ecological site-specific performance group Environmental Performance Authority. He’s also a founding member of legendary Australian post-punk group Primitive Calculators, who formed in Melbourne in 1978 and are still active today.

As with The Little Theatre’s previous performance at Missing Persons (The Red Geranium and Its Almost Taste of Pepper, 2019), God’s Own Pawn Shop is a free public event. Seats are strictly limited – please make a reservation to attend one of the two evening performances through Eventbrite.

Date: Saturday 30 January, 5:45pm and 7:15pm. Attend on Facebook