Each bronze form resembles a river stone, shaped to sit comfortably in the palm. Lifting it from its wooden holder reveals an etched message on its underside, seen only by the one who holds it. Arranged along a long table, the works are tactile sculptures, intimate texts and rituals of attention.
For Holding is a meditation on presence: an exhibition of objects made not only to be viewed, but also to be touched. The work imagines objects not as passive forms, but as things that, to those who listen, ask to be held – and even reach back. Warmth passes from palm to bronze, then back again. These objects are activated by each visitor’s encounter, coming fully into being through acts of lifting, holding and reading.
The project brings together three collaborators whose contributions meet in each handmade object. This shared process reflects the exhibition's broader interest in connection, care and embodied experience. Each element depends upon the others, turning individual acts of making into a collective invitation to pause, hold and be present.
Please join us to celebrate the opening of this exhibition at First Site Gallery, 5–7pm,
Wednesday 7 October.
Claire Garwoli, Davin Ivatts and Zosia Slifirski Duckett are part of Vessel – a collective formed from a friendship forged through sculpture. Combining woodwork, metalwork and poetry, they explore craftsmanship, talismanic objects and the poetics of material and space. For Holding is their inaugural collaboration, created in Vessel’s workshop. Garwoli, Ivatts and Slifirski Duckett are current students and recent graduates of RMIT’s Bachelor of Arts (Fine Arts) program.
Banner image: Zosia Slifirski Duckett, Claire Garwoli and Davin Ivatts, Holding Stone 2026, etched and polished bronze. Photograph by Zosia Slifirski Duckett. Image courtesy of the artists.
11am - 5pm Tuesday to Friday
Closed on public holidays
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.
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