Close Reading
This afternoon from 2pm I’ll be sharing the beautiful stage set by Meredith Turnbull and Ross Coulter at Alta Forma in Naarm, with my fellow artists Minhi Park and Tom Burless. After a rewarding and collaborative install there yesterday, with the aid of dear companion, design writer / editor / curator Narelle Yabuka, I delightedly confirm it’s a poetic and beautiful show, one I think worthy of your close attention.
Alta Forma is delighted to present Close Reading featuring new work by artists Tom Burless, Melissa Cameron and Minhi Park.
Opening celebration tomorrow: Saturday 5 September 2-4pm
Exhibition dates: 5-26 Sept, 2026
Please note gallery is open from 2pm Sat 5 Sept.
A close reading is a deep and sustained analysis of a passage of text. The reader carefully reviews language, content, structure and pattern to better understand the text and the writer’s intention. This is not reading for pleasure, but to deeply understand and interpret. Alta Forma’s Close Reading presents three new bodies of new work by the artists each created through deep engagement with a material and subject. Traversing wayfinding and visualising the liminal spaces of a journey, to creation from byproducts of street sweepers or the act of keeping precious objects and making *ham* 함(traditional Korean lidded boxes). The artists are brought into orbit to demonstrate a connection through intensity of practice, a desire to deeply understand a subject and their capacity for poetic expression.
About Melissa’s project:
“Mild steel sweeping blades break off and fall from large street sweeper trucks when they clean. If you know where to look, you can find them left behind on streets the world over. Thousands of these thin metal strips have been collected by me and on my behalf by my jewellery colleagues and other conscientious observers around city streets and cemeteries. I began making chain for a large artwork called rapidyclosingwindow #1, using 2.5cm x 1cm chain links made from the blades in concert with other recycled metal and plastics. After making hundreds of meters of the same chain to complete this work, it permeated my practice. I have made several detours using street-sweeper-blade chain, diverted or even borrowed from the large work: a shrug that later grew into a chain dress, work featuring offcuts from the chain making process, work using the rust dust collected from chain manufactured into ink, I’ve used every scrap of the reclaimed material. Collectively these pieces are imbued with a story of environmental recklessness and conscious reclamation and reuse.” Melissa Cameron, 2026
| Alta Forma is a commercial gallery and curated project space for artists working in expanded jewellery and object based practices. For further inquiries please contact the gallery: info@altaforma.au |
| Alta Forma Suite G06/620 St Kilda Road, Naarm/Melbourne, 3004 Hours Thur & Fri 12:00–5:00 Sat 12:00–4:00 and other times by appointment |