Inpatient by Tess Hider

08 Apr 2025 - 02 May 2025
11:00am - 05:00pm
FREE
Melbourne City
First Site Gallery Storey Hall Basement, 344 Swanston Street, Melbourne

First Site Gallery

Tess Hider shares personal experiences of disability and chronic pain, speaking to broader complex and intersectional realities of acquired disabilities.

Opening celebration night

Date:Wednesday 9 April

Time: 5-7pm

Tess Hider, Hip hole detail, (digital photo), 2024. Image courtesy of the artist

Inpatient by Tess Hider

Tess Hider shares personal experiences of disability and chronic pain, speaking to broader complex and intersectional realities of acquired disabilities. Inpatient features soft sculptures responding to her recent hip surgery, hospital stay, and recovery, as well as a lifetime of disability-related experiences. The large scale of the works bring attention to the realities of invisible illness, while the soft forms create a humorous, and comforting aesthetic that allows the topic of disability to be more approachable for the viewer. Shapes, colours and motifs associated with Tess’s experiences presented in Inpatient bring attention to the marginalisation of disabled communities and invite us to address ableism in society and offer greater accessibility through art.

Artist Biography

Tess Hider is a multidisciplinary artist working across installation, painting, and craft. Her work visualises personal experiences, emotions and feelings associated with disability and chronic pain, and the personal, social, financial, and political impacts. She uses humour, Pop art aesthetics, and large scale to engage with serious topics of pain, illness and medical spaces in a light-hearted way. Tess offers her own experiences to prompt conversations about wider disability awareness in society.

I feel the art I make gives the pain I experience a purpose. If I were to find a positive, I wouldn’t be able to make these works without my adverse life experience as influences.

– Tess Hider

Upcoming events

Monthly RMIT Games Day 2026

25 Jan 2026 - 14 Dec 2026

RMIT City campus

RMIT are back for RMIT Games Day 2026 tournaments!

'Can I Hold You?' by Chloe Rose Thomas

19 May 2026 - 12 Jun 2026

Chloe Rose Thomas’ exhibition, 'Can I Hold You?' centres on queer community and embodied practices of care, exploring what it means to take traditional photographic portraits of non-normative bodies and the histories they represent.

'Boiling Matters' by Elisa Zorraquin

19 May 2026 - 12 Jun 2026

Elisa Zorraquin’s exhibition Boiling Matters draws on her background in contemporary jewellery and industrial design. She creates participatory works that engage both body and soul, initiating encounters between individuals who might not otherwise meet.

Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.

Learn more about our commitment to Indigenous cultures

Inpatient by Tess Hider