This artwork was featured in 'Soft Rage' at the Motley Bauhaus (2022) and in 'Fabricating 'x'' at the AD Space in UNSW's Paddington campus (2025).

The premise of this work was inspired by Edwin Schur's concept of the 'deviant woman': a kind of womxn who defies societal norms or expectations of gender. For example, a woman who speaks out against injustice or an abuser receives intense scrutiny, backlash and potentially out-casting from society. Katherine Anne Gabriel refers to this as reaffirming “masculine power over the woman who is in an inferior, devalued social position… Rather than protecting the helpless woman, it is a protection and reestablishment of the male position of dominance and power”.

This ongoing collaborative work is a manifestation of rage, dissent, exhaustion, pain, frustration and rejection of this concept that womxn find themselves in so often throughout their lives. And yet it feels like our words become background noise so easily.

Each no is a contribution by women, AFAB and non-binary individuals from all over the world who have endured these experiences. Whether it was non-consensual physical contact, sexist jokes at their expense, power imbalances in the workplace, or simply being told that they were too emotional or too girly.

"No" is a whole sentence.

2022 - ongoing

embroidery (various fibres), etching, acrylic painting and ink on calico.

NFS

We, Dissent.

An ongoing, collaborative project about the unheard and suppressed voices of women, AFAB and non-binary.