Research Fellowship Project
February 2017
Project Title: Archival Enactments: New Constellations
Dr Kate Scardifield’s fellowship was initially undertaken to develop a new body of work for her exhibition Ley Lines (2018), in response to collections and civic archives across regional areas in Scotland. Tracing thread lines and points of connection between Scotland and Australia, her project employed a constellation metaphor to think about how we construct meaning and narrative through the specific grouping of objects, and how actively re-seeing collections as unfixed ‘bodies of knowledge’ can prompt new ideas and call into question our understanding of heritage, identity and place.
Over the course of her fellowship, Scardifield examined objects and ephemera linked to the former Governor of NSW and Scottish astronomer Thomas Brisbane (1773-1860). MAAS and Sydney Observatory hold astronomical instruments brought to Australia by Brisbane in the early 1800s and used at the Parramatta observatory to chart the southern sky. The resultant Ley Lines exhibition was curated by Panel (Glasgow) in partnership with Heriot Watt University; Live Borders; Fife Contemporary Art & Craft; The Barony Centre; and Falkirk Community Trust.
Scardifield’s research later resulted in the development of a further body of work, Soft Topologies (2018), presented at the University of Technology Sydney Gallery. Read about Soft Topologies in Art Guide Australia here.
Scardifield is a visual artist and researcher whose work spans textiles, video and sculpture.