Helen Kocis Edwards and Jessi Wong explore childhood memory and language through nursery rhymes. By shortening them to their whimsical essence, they create their own interpretations and imagery, working collaboratively using different printmaking and drawing methods.

Nursery rhymes are embedded in the memories and reading experiences of childhood. This project was born from a desire to play with the meaning of these stories, by distilling the language of the most familiar rhymes into a single sentence, deliberately misinterpreting them with humour, and placing them in a contemporary setting.

Jessi develops the text and creates abstract landscapes using woodcuts on paper. Helen responds by drawing characters in Jess’s paper environments. The artists work together passing the text and images back and forth to create, negotiate, and refine their collaborative works on paper and reinterpret these familiar pieces of poetry.

Exhibition runs 27 November 2020 - 14 February 2021