She Does (Working Title) on Paper
Video projection, charcoal and pastel on paper, 2024
She Does (Working Title) on Paper
Video projection, charcoal and pastel on paper, 2024
She Does (Working Title) on Paper gives visual form to the memory and experience of the liminal space between dying and death. In caring for someone exiting this life, I felt like a caretaker of memories and the objects—boxes, antiquities, and personal effects—wherein these memories are infused.
The light of video projection, the friable and condensed application of charcoal and pastel, and torn paper evidence the complex fragility, intimacy, and exhaustion of this temporal space when one is confronted with their own mortality via the death of a parent.
Driven by a hypnotic dirge the projection of performing in my father’s suit is layered and animated into ghostly actions onto sweeping gestural lines and soft monochromic tones. This drawing ritualises care and nurtures relationality to quietly honour women’s unseen labour and question the value of care in a society that values capital.
Wish You Were Here (Redcliffe)
Installation, 2024
Redcliffe Art Gallery, Moreton Bay, QLD.
4 May — 13 July 2024
Wish You Were Here (Redcliffe)
Installation, 2024
Redcliffe Art Gallery, Moreton Bay, QLD.
4 May — 13 July 2024
Sound by Mick Dick.
Documentation Video by Christine Hall.
Wish You Were Here is an installation of collages, projected video, light, tape drawing and Augmented Reality. The project is a humorous retort to to the uncertainty in this era of compound crisis and the unseen labor of women. Uncanny household objects collide with uncertain landscapes. In search of progress, multiple figures attempt to travel, yet go nowhere. This interdisciplinary work transforms the isolation and endurance of contemporary life into a mesmerising carnival of ghostly silhouettes. Through repetitive rhythm and monotonous loops, non-specific locations and an unspecified time, this work blends the physical and the psychological for a moment of hypnotising and joyful reprieve.
This work borrows absurdist collage from Dada; steals its introspective title from Pink Floyd’s song of the same name; and visualises my experience of being a primary carer. The work acknowledges the emotional, psychological and physical balancing act of holding space for family. Domestic items indirectly speak to the unpaid, and unacknowledged, yet nevertheless expected responsibilities that women fulfil in the family environment. For me, the unknowable and surreal landscape of transitioning from daughter to parenting my parent is one of endurance. Wish you were here combines the loss of self, associated with caring for others, with a psychedelic continuum that promises endless energy to keep going in this weird and changing world. In terms of media: works on paper provide an accessible point of entry to the exhibition, while new media, lighting and projection components will expose audiences to the possibilities of interdisciplinary installation
Fisher’s Ghost Art Award
Bathroom Scene
Video Installation (2x screen and wallpaper) , w 200 x h 160, 2024.
Video Duration: 09:00
Campbelltown Arts Centre NSW
Fisher’s Ghost Art Award
Bathroom Scene
Video Installation ( 2 x screen and wallpaper) , w 200 x h 160, 2024.
Video Duration: 09:00
Campbelltown Arts Centre NSW
Bathroom Scene is a two-channel video installation that captures the liminal space between dying and death. Against faux woodgrain wallpaper, Kellie O'Dempsey ritualises care into surreal scenes and hypnotic loops, honouring women's unseen labour while questioning the value of care in a capital-driven world.
Redland Art Awards
A Cloud Never Dies
Watercolour on paper, w 1260 x h 640, 2024
Redland Art Gallery, Cleveland
8 December 2024 – 28 January 2025
Redland Art Awards
A Cloud Never Dies
Watercolour on paper, w 1260 x h 640, 2024
Redland Art Gallery, Cleveland
8 December 2024 – 28 January 2025
Created from my father’s A cloud never dies is a plein-air painting made after his passing. This work captures the ephemeral nature of cloudscapes using a calligraphic gestures, delicate interplay of pigment with water and drawing stimulus from Thich Nhat Hanh's teaching, of the same name which contemplates continuity and rebirth as solace in grief.
In this seascape, the horizon is a stabilising element, contrasting with the destabilisation that accompanies profound loss. A small, minimalist pigmented paintings within the composition acknowledges the weighty concerns of landscape painting traditions and disrupts the form. Illuminating the interplay of presence and absence this work explores the horizon's essential role as a stabilising force.
ISEA (International Symposium of Electronic Art) Brisbane 2024
ISEA (International Symposium of Electronic Art) Brisbane 2024
Time Tracing (2020) & Wish you were here on VHS (2024)
Video Duration 15min
June 2024
Video Sample – Time Tracing
The Cube QUT Gardens
Time Tracing recreates the map lines of the Murrumbidgee river as giant water drawings in the earth, which–over time–move, extend and connect. Working in collaboration with local Wagga Wagga artists, this large-scale video work incorporates dance, movement and sound that simulate the power of the Murrumbidgee river catchment. This ancient and fragile ecosystem has held and traced story for communities throughout time; Time Tracing aims to honour the unique characteristics of the Murrumbidgee river, in all its all states; flood, drought and flow acknowledging the catchment’s significance to communities both past and present. Filmed on the banks of the river at dusk, with Indigenous and non-Indigenous emerging performers of Wagga Wagga, the video aims to celebrate the river’s connection to the land and people it supports across time as a collision of moving bodies utilise lines and repetition. Commissioned by Wagga Wagga Council
Artist: Kellie O’Dempsey
Sound: Mick Dick
Videographer: Damien Jenkins from Next Inline Productions
Performers: Wes Boney, Zoë Hadler, Natasha Strimpf, Markus Wright
Wish you were here on VHS is an immersive video of collaged test patterns, glitches and moving figures that transports the viewer into an uncertain landscape. The Wish you were here series began as a response to lockdowns and has continued to develop with transforming elements of humour and oddity. In this version, swimming eyeball fish collide with unstable analogue geometry. In search of progress, multiple figures attempt to travel, yet go nowhere in this oddball world. Their figurative and abstract forms gently smash together as we all fumble for connection. Through repetitive rhythm, monotonous loops, remnants of the pre-, in non-specific locations and an unspecified time, Wish You Were Here blends the physical and promises endless energy to keep trying in this weird and changing world.
Artist: Kellie O'Dempsey
Sound: Mick Dick
Augmented Reality & Animation: Helena Papageorgiou
Wish you were here (Grafton)
Wish you were here (Grafton)
Installation, 2024
Grafton Regional Gallery
17 Feb – 20 April 2024
Wish You Were Here began as a response to the lockdown life of the pandemic.
In this installation, uncanny household objects collide with uncertain landscapes. In search of progress, multiple figures attempt to travel yet go nowhere in this oddball world. Their figurative and abstract forms gently smash together to imitate how we fumble for connection.
Through repetitive rhythm, monotonous loops, neon lights, remnants of billboard posters, collaged objects and an unspecified time, Wish You Were Here blends the physical and the psychological for a moment of hypnotic but joyful reprieve.
Wish You Were is an immersive installation of collaged works on paper, projected animation, sound and Augmented Reality (AR).
Sound by Mick Dick and AR by Helena Papageorgiou.
Photos and Video by Sim on Hughes Photography
She Does (working title)
She Does (working title)
Installation, 2023
2 Dec 2023 to 18 Feb 2024
Noosa Regional Gallery
Installation, video, furniture 2023
Artist Kellie O’Dempsey
Videographer: Jorge Serra
Sound: Mick Dick
Movement Consultant: Ruby Donohoe
Photographer: Warwick Gow
She Does (working title) gives visual form to the memory and experience of the liminal space between dying and death. In caring for someone exiting this life, Kellie O’Dempsey felt like they were a caretaker of memories; and the objects—cupboards, boxes, antiquities and personal effects—wherein these memories are infused. She Does (working title) uses these objects to explore the complex fragility, intimacy, exhaustion and boredom of this temporal space, when one is confronted with their own mortality via the death of a parent. Drawing on installation, performance and video, O’Dempsey ritualises care and nurtures relationality to quietly honour women’s unseen labour and question the value of care in a society that values capital.
Noosa Regional Gallery Director Michael Brennan
Kellie O'Dempsey is renowned for an installation practice that integrates projection, video, collage, architectural space, gestural line, performance and digital drawing. She Does draws together various aspects of this way of working to sensitively explore the gravity and responsibility of caring for the life and memory of another – particularly one who was once responsible for caring for you.
The development of She Does (Working Title) was supported by RADF (Regional Arts Development Fund) & the Sunshine Coast Council