Indi Middleton, How It Was With Us, oil paint on MDF board, 2016-2023, 140 x 120 x 9 cm, image courtesy of the artist
Tracing | Indi Middleton
23 September – 20 January, 2024
Artist
Indi Middleton
Opening Friday, 22 September | 6pm – 8pm
Indi Middleton’s debut solo exhibition, Tracing, provides a sensitive and empathetic insight into the lived experience of complex mental illness.
“This exhibition is an ode to change and transition. Living with complex mental illness can be confusing and scary; fluctuating and non-linear. It can feel like frustration about investing all your time into something ambiguous and intangible. This year, I have dedicated so much to stabilising my brain through finally seeking the appropriate treatment, while my peers are outwardly succeeding in a more traditional way. I have had to reconcile with the disappointment of things not following the trajectory that I saw for myself. This body of work is a non-judgemental catalogue of thoughts and feelings, during a period of uncertainty, and provides tangible proof that the investment into healing and understanding is undeniably worthwhile. Being vulnerable and opening a door for connection through mutual understanding and shared experience is what drives me; I hope that this visual representation of growth will invite others to give themselves grace, even though sometimes that is one of the hardest things to do.” – Indi Middleton
About the artist
Indi Middleton (she/her) is a Boorloo artist who works with craft techniques and printmaking. Exploring themes of vulnerability and trauma through an autobiographical lens, she aims to provide an honest, unflinching portrayal of her experience with complex mental illness. Imbued with accumulative history and memory through laborious hand-sewing techniques, recycled textiles and layered prints embody the cyclical and shifting nature of her personality disorder. Using her sensitive and nuanced view, Middleton invites discourse around education and destigmatisation of complex mental illnesses; ultimately fostering a space for connection and community. Holding an Advanced Diploma in Visual Arts, Indi has previously exhibited at Artsource, as a part of the home/body exhibition, and at Moores Building Contemporary Art Space in the City of Fremantle 25 Under 25.
