" ... We arrived at Gunyah in the evening, a little weary and worse for wear but the trees welcomed us; giving us a sense of this special place on Worimi land. There is a sense of generosity and creative spirit imbued at Gunyah that you can immediately recognise.
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| AL Dadak, Full moon at Gunyah, August 2026 |
For most of the first week it was just my daughter and I, with my partner away for work commitments. Excited and nervous at the prospect of occupying a 4 year-old without the usual city distractions, we shifted into a slower pace of wandering, reading, listening and making. We became art making buds, sharing the studio with a practice anchored around the micro focus of a small child. The minutiae of place became essential for observing and documenting; examining rocks, shells, leaves and seeds and working with clay, printing and drawing to explore our ideas.
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| AL Dadak, In the Gunyah Studio, August 2026 |
Working with my small studio partner was a great reminder of how fun and exciting the dual process of observing and making can be, especially as a kid. It gave me a great perspective on how to embed an intergenerational approach to place-based learning and making. We also ate a solid amount of popcorn on the jetty and made great seaweed potions down by the rocks, working with the tide each day.
Having extra time and space in the second week thanks to family support allowed for a more focussed approach. Time at Gunyah enabled me to continue my research, building on my ongoing investigation, Zwischen (the in-between). With a foundation in migration, memory, and language, I explored these concepts through observational, place-based research, focusing on dusk as a transitional period. Dusk at Gunyah is immense; everything shifts, pulsates and then aligns. There is an insight into the continuum of things; an encounter with pluriversal understandings of place, where everything is entangled and exists outside the dominant narratives.
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| AL Dadak, Dusk studies, August 2026 |
Spaciousness to observe, document and think is often swallowed by the noise of the city, or inevitably lost while still at work or on the commute home. Spending time documenting dusk, through photo, video and sound on Worimi Country was a privilege. Attempting to capture the transitions and nuance of time passing is inevitably fraught. After a few days there was a sense of clear rhythm, but then this would shift and change with the weather: a windy, rainy day so mercurial and significantly different from a cloudless and still evening. The water became a hypnotic body, absorbing and reflecting the process of change. Documenting dusk feels out of reach, impossible to capture, it’s the sense of something, a transitioning of many elements. I’m excited to take this observational research into the basis for new works.
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| AL Dadak, Dusk studies, August 2026 |
Many hours were spent with family, walking, swimming and cooking, then heading to the studio for reading and researching, whilst also returning to a previous love of printmaking. The spaciousness and slowness of Gunyah made printmaking feel like a very appropriate medium, carving in and around the details of place and translating these new forms into graphic outputs.
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| AL Dadak, In the Gunyah Studio, August 2026 |
The time at Gunyah was a generous and generative experience. I left with two distinct projects unfolding and an immense gratitude for the time and space offered. My deepest thanks and respect to Worimi Elders past and present, on whose lands we were so lucky to rest and create. Heartfelt thanks to Kath and the Gunyah board, the residency is such a remarkable and generous offering. ..."
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| AL Dadak, Dusk on the Gunyah Jetty, August 2026 |
Anne-Louise (AL) Dadak
www.aldadak.com
