'Boiling Matters' by Elisa Zorraquin

19 May 2026 - 12 Jun 2026
11:00am - 05:00pm
FREE
First Site Gallery | Storey Hall Basement, 344 Swanston Street, Melbourne

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.

For Boiling Matters, Zorraquin investigates jewellery’s potential as a social tool: an agent for generosity, care and exchange. The work comprises five hand-thrown ceramic teacups connected by a handmade brass chain. Zorraquin will invite participants to activate the work through the ritual of sharing in facilitated weekly tea drinking sessions. The choreography of sipping tea while linked together introduces humour and intimacy, prompting reflection on interdependence and the small negotiations that shape human connection. Through this work, the artist explores how shared rituals can transform everyday gestures into moments of empathy and awareness.

Please join us to celebrate the opening of this exhibition at First Site Gallery, 5– 7pm, Wednesday 20 May.

Elisa Zorraquin is a jewellery artist and PhD candidate at RMIT University. She explores contemporary jewellery through the lens of community engagement and sustainable practice. Her research, ‘Crafting Connections: How Emergent Material Practices in Jewellery Build Community’, investigates how jewellery can foster dialogue and connection through playful, interactive designs created for multiple wearers. With a background in industrial design, Zorraquin blends functionality with artistic expression, transforming everyday materials and gestures into poetic acts of exchange.

Her work emphasises the value of noticing and celebrating beauty in daily life while exploring how objects can invite care, generosity and participation. Zorraquin’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including in Munich, Germany; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and New York, USA, as well as locally during Melbourne Design Week. She has also participated in the Radiant Pavilion Contemporary Jewellery Biennial in 2019, 2021 and 2024.

Thumbnail and banner image: Elisa Zorraquin, Untitled (detail), milk and vinegar bottle modules, glass beads and thread, 2024. Image courtesy of the artist.

Elisa Zorraquin, 'Crafting Connections' (detail), 2025. Image courtesy of the artist.

Opening Hours

11am - 5pm Tuesday to Friday

Closed on public holidays

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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 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

'Boiling Matters' by Elisa Zorraquin