Undercurrent

Verotica Deluxe is a queer, disabled artist and burlesque dancer. She was raised above a costume shop by drag queens. She uses art, costuming and dance to deal with her chronic pain.

Verotica is always known to push the boundaries through her costuming and performance, with camp comedy and peculiar prop placement.

WE ARE HERE takes two blank white shirts and reimagines them as protest signs. I wanted these pieces to position the trans body as both a site of revolution and a canvas of becoming — embodying protest, resistance, and transformation.

By flattening the shirts, rather than placing them on a mannequin, WE ARE HERE resists binary readings and opens up space for infinite interpretations of form and self.

I also wanted to use poetry as a voice of power, reclamation, and collective memory — words echo across the two canvases, in dialogue with one another, amplifying both individual and community voices to affirm that trans people have always been here. By using pink and blue text on white, mirroring the colours of the trans pride flag, WE ARE HERE transforms the weight of transphobia into a celebration of trans resistance, trans joy, and trans becoming.

this work began in frustration. i took scissors to undies that no longer fit me. four years later i returned to the mangled form and began to stitch. in one sense a mending, but not to restore their former glory. something else emerged.

i share this story because i am sick of legitimising my art through colonial ableist logics of the arts-industrial-complex. sick of the grotesqueries of privilege. of peers who care more about speaking/writing perfectly about liberation than actually getting free together.

skin deep (2019) has led me to listen to Quandamooka woman Dr Aileen Moreton-Robinson's book Talkin' Up To The White Woman. Moreton-Robinson asks a visiting white feminist professor what are the limits of what she would do? "She did not answer my question – instead she changed the subject."

colLAB has been healing and decolonial. there are no gatekeepers, no toxic relationship dynamics, no opportunity hoarding, i didn't have to do extra emotional labour, ideas weren't policed by intellectual property, there was no surveillance, it wasn't extractive.

colLAB has embodied collectivism, mutual aid, the interdependence of knowledge, access and trust to use expensive equipment, and a generosity of spirit that is almost a shock to my system.

disability – or rather, ableism – cannot operate without whiteness. like this sculpture, i feel backed into a corner, into "dead space." i'm interested in what it means to betray whiteness. i'm interested as a matter of survival.

These creatures come from the deepest seabeds and are rare and precious. Their mesmerising texture complexity and colour harmonies are a reflection of their resilience and adaptation to this hostile environment. Under your eyes today, fished and exposed, you can observe their body shapes, reminiscent of plant and animal adaptations to lure and perform, to mimic and blend to survive. Admire their genderless expression and use them as accessories to complement your outfits, use them to express yourself and shine your identity through observers' judgements.

Become an alluring and attracting creature as a mask of survival.

Quentin Vernel is a product and textile designer born in France. He lives in Montréal, Canada, and this is his first exhibition in Australia. As a queer and neurodivergent multimedia artist, he ponders the coping mechanisms his communities must deploy to be able to survive and thrive in a hostile environment. Inspired by nature, he is deeply impressed by plant and animal mimicry techniques. Bird courtship parades are mesmerising for him. Attracted to meticulous and precise textile techniques like embroidery, he loves to create textures as pleasant and surprising to touch as to look at.

Mat Barnes is a queer, neurodivergent artist and occupational therapist originally from Tiohtià:ke, Turtle Island (colonially known as Montreal, Canada).

He is an occupational therapist and craftivist passionate about equity, justice and accessibility. Mat is particularly interested in sensory modulation and seeks to reflect this interest in his creations. He is keen to share experiences with folks from the queer community during his stay in Meanjin.

In his art, he wishes to break from the conventional norms and mould of visual art which cannot be touched or interacted with. He seeks to build multi-sensory experiences pleasant to different neurotypes and abilities through his passion for fibre art.

My self-expression is complex and constantly evolving, shaped by intersecting identities — different parts of who I am, such as my culture, gender, neurodivergence, and sexuality all interacting and influencing one another.

I know who I am, yet when it comes to my social identity, I've never felt fully able to reveal my whole self. My sense of identity often feels fragmented — shifting, blending, and becoming transparent to adapt to the expectations of others. This constant adaptation has made my identity feel fluid and dependent on context.

People tend to see me in the ways they choose, and I play a role in shaping that perception. I often ask myself: where does my true identity begin, and where does fitting in for others end? I'm still searching for that answer.

Through my work, I explore the tension between visibility and invisibility, authenticity and adaptation. I invite viewers to look beneath the surface — beyond what is presented, expected, or assumed — and to consider how their own perspectives and biases shape the way they see others. My art is both an act of self-reclamation and an invitation to see with greater depth and compassion.

Tahnee Elliott is a multidisciplinary artist living and working in Meanjin. Having made her own clothing for special occasions and everyday wear since a teenager, her work speaks to both identity and appearance. The works for this show tie together the artist's passions for music, sewing, hard and soft rubbish, stories, portraits, place, time and technology.

"Growing up in regional Queensland at the turn of the millennium, then coming of age in Brisbane, it didn't always feel like there was a place for me. I left. I came back and felt more at home. This collaboration has helped me put some of those pieces together, and feel like I can play a part in creating spaces for those that need one today." — Tahnee Elliott, 2025

Thank you to those who contributed materials and ideas: we carry your stories with us. Works in this show were inspired by brainstorming in the initial colLAB workshop, then coming back and finding compatible ideas to work on together (thanks Mat!). Thank you to the LGBTIQA+ elders who came before us to make sure these stories are told (like the contributors and custodians of the incredible AIDS Quilt). Thank you to the Yagerra and Turrbal people whose land we live and work on, as the custodians of lands, waters, song and craft as ways of telling and linking stories. Thank you to Ehud, Kristy, Nina and our fellow artists for these workshops. They've been a lifeline of connection and creativity.

This work explores my lived experience of dysphoria as a genderqueer person. The sculpture presents unnerving amorphous forms, hanging, bulging and drooping like heavy blobs of misshapen excess flesh. These forms embody the discomfort and alienation I feel toward parts of my body that don't align with my gender identity — lumps that feel wrong, excessive, foreign — like they shouldn't be there. These ambiguous masses are deliberately confronting and unsettling, intended to evoke revulsion and confusion, allowing the viewer an opportunity to step into my experience of dysphoria.

The fleshy masses hang from a large and striking chrome clothes hanger — strong, sleek, angular, and rigid. Heavy chains and carabiners secure and suspend the fleshy elements, reflecting the choices I make in my gender expression — adorning myself with silver and chains. These are the tools I use to construct an identity that feels right — hard, reflective, androgynous. They're both armour and adornment, transforming discomfort into agency and confidence in my queer identity.

Combining these elements has allowed me to depict how the unwelcome parts of my body, and the feelings that come with them, weigh on me, chained to me in a way I can't easily remove. Usually a solitary experience, a hidden darkness I grapple with invisibly, my experience with queerness and gender dysphoria is on show in this piece.

Based in Meanjin, Emma is a queer artist who commonly likes to use themes that contrast the grotesque with beauty.

Created through the media of sewn fabric with embroidered and plush elements, 'Feed me' aims to contrast how vulnerability is both a privilege and a danger.

With reference to Little Shop of Horrors through its title, and a colour motif referencing a Venus flytrap, 'Feed me' confronts the concept of how self-presentation comes with caveats when looking for connection. How we present to the world is both unavoidable and has the power to fuel us or ruin us.

The minion is a creature with no biological or theological basis. It appeared and proliferated until there was nothing else. The minion does every job, holds every role and can do anything. The minion's self-worth is defined by self-sacrifice. This is an externalisation of the alienation the minion already felt as a worker and a provider. If the minion cannot work, it becomes a burden. Everyone relies on the minion's aptitude to the task. If a minion is incapable it is seen as an insult or disrespect to its master, and the only thing worse than weakness is treason.

Referencing The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, protagonist Gregor feels alienated from others and exiled from community. Life is devoted to The Other — The Employer, Family, and Community. But these entities have become a part of The Self. He has adopted them into his head; they inform every thought and choice he makes. The true metamorphosis happened long before the story: he had already lost his humanity to labour.

This photo story depicts the transformation of a minion, not just physically but emotionally. Here we see the minion's transformation from a figurative icon to a literal human effigy. Its physical transformation renders it unfit for all its roles. Now no one can demand anything from it, and it can rest, hide, scurry and decay as it wishes. To escape social control one must become monstrous, exist outside the realm of usefulness and recognition.

i make art under the name ambrsrtrvivl aka ambrosiart revival the brand aka multidisciplinary project of amberosa kyparisoula rollston aka amber rollston.

i have been in a hiatus kind of burn out phase with social media presence & posting for around 2 years now apart from the occasional solidarity & am just starting to re-emerge again.

in that time have been creating & moving through a lot, but with that a music concept duo album & visual body of work has been developed which i'm working towards starting to get it moving out there at this stage. the AV component (priority being film clips) of dissolver includes elements of drag & waacking & dance/stories which intends/plans/envisions to feature/represent mostly all folk from community as it's the realm i live & breathe in, & the passion i want to express & share with the world. if you want to know more as it unfolds my insta is @ambrsrtrvivl & everything else will go from there. bear with.

official website under reconstruction but is www.ambrosiartrevival.com (opens in new tab) ~ i'd also really like to see more artists moving into including the indie web again as meta & the music machine just about couldn't be more off ~ but it is likely to get even more intense & ridiculous very soon, so i hope we can stay in touch & connected during this transition. amber x

Full-time creative, fashion designer, fashion teacher, historical re-enactor and clothing maker, mother, wife, and seamstress.

The artwork explores the hard work performed by all participants throughout the project, concluding in Undercurrent.

The piece is a bleach design on cloth as a backpatch. The motivation came from various pictures and illustrations of mycelium networks and various other fractured patterns of nature I found. Individual links spring out and form new clusters, new connecting points flow in and out as part of the whole. I like doing these designs, they are fun, especially when I can wear them around.