Hamish Upton
Music/Sound
2026
DiscoverDEF is four Deaf women artists working across video, photography, painting, poetry, illustration, and installation working from Dja Dja Wurrung, Daylesford.
They practice spatial and visual thinking as ask audiences to rethink their approaches to Deaf languages. Angie Goto explores figurative and abstract forms shaped by her lived experience of colour, vibrations, methodology, challenging dominant cultural values to produce formally distinct outcomes. Sofya Gollan creates experimental video and narrative environments that space, and image. Irene Holub works conceptually across materials, weaving poetry and questions of identity to evoke empathy and reflection. Riona Tindal bridges art and science through illustration, grounded in conservation, research, and national arts leadership. These are four distinct practices rooted in Deaf culture and Auslan, centring Deaf perspectives. Playful and provocative, they are committed to shifting perceptions beyond a deficit model to reimagine a Deaf world as a safe, radical space through rigorous, politically engaged work.
In Residence at Bundanon
DEF will use the Bundanon residency to extend our collaborative practice following our first formal DEF group show in July 2026 at First Draft Gallery, Sydney. Over three weeks we will develop new work, both collaborative and independent, that builds on our discourse on Deaf identity, language, and representation. The residency provides dedicated time to deepen our collective practice, test new creative approaches, and potentially expand to other Deaf women artists. We will create new work, document our processes, and plan exhibition and touring strategies that challenge the underrepresentation of Deaf artists in the contemporary sector.
