Mar 18, 2026
The often “exhausting” and demanding work performed by unpaid carers is brought into focus by Ann Gillespie’s artwork Unseen/Undone, which has received one of the top awards at the 2026 Helpmann Graduate Exhibition.
Ann (pictured), a graduate of the Bachelor of Creative Arts (Visual Arts) - a dual qualification offered by TAFE SA and Flinders University, received the Helpmann Academy $10,000 Major Exhibition Award, supported by IAS Fine Art Logistics and MARS Gallery.
Her work Unseen/Undone, which incorporates ceramics, raw clay with a bucket and water, and a video (co-produced by Sarah MacDonald), explores themes of at-home care, unseen labour and death.
Ann has drawn on personal experiences to inform her work; she has been a carer in different contexts and supported her uncle to access voluntary assisted dying, and she hopes to promote discussion about the importance and value of unpaid carers across the country.
“Because I’ve been a carer I’ve spent a lot of time in the home and so the domestic is familiar to me and I want to bring it into a public space,” she says.
“It’s messy, exhausting, unpaid work that happens in people’s homes and it’s largely feminised.”
Audience participation is a key aspect of Unseen/Undone with people encouraged to be part of the labour process by taking a sock made of raw clay from the washing basket and adding it to a bucket of water where it breaks down.
“By putting socks into the water you’re implicated in my unseen labour, and I hope that makes people think about the work of unpaid carers. From a material perspective, I wanted people to encounter this vulnerability of the clay dissolving,” Ann says.
Initially interested in producing functional ceramics, Ann says her practice has become more conceptual since undertaking the Bachelor of Creative Arts and she has “loved every minute” she has spent at AC Arts.
As part of the Helpmann Academy Major Exhibition Award, Ann will be exhibiting Unseen/Undone at the MARS Gallery in Melbourne from 23 June to 4 July. She has also received the FELTspace Graduate Award, providing an opportunity to exhibit new work in August.
Fellow TAFE SA/Flinders University graduate and ceramicist, Tali Koto, juggled work as an early childhood teacher, family and study to complete her Bachelor qualification and says she is thrilled to be part of the Helpmann Graduate Exhibition and an award recipient.
Tali received the $7500 Fetzer Award for Excellence for her artwork Sentinels, which explores cultural heritage, identity and memory.
Sentinels comprises three structures made from a combination of terracotta, stoneware, pumice stone, charcoal, ink, pen and eucalyptus stain, raffia, wire and muslin.
Individual clay pieces, some with patterns or marks and others glazed, are stacked in different combinations and represent elements of Tali’s Australian and Fijian heritage.
Adelaide born and raised, with a Fijian father, Tali says she’s had a “difficult relationship” with her identity, resented being asked ‘where are you from’ as a young person and has only embraced her Fijian heritage as she’s got older.
“I think the big turning point came when I had my own children and I started to think about how to teach them about Fijian culture,” she says.
While living in New Zealand, Tali started working in ceramics, making tableware that was stocked by shops in Christchurch.
When she and her family returned to Adelaide, Tali decided to pursue her interest in the arts, choosing to study at AC Arts because of the focus on “how to be an artist and make it work as a profession”.
There were “vague” refences to culture in her patterned tableware, Tali says, but her study has enabled her to explore why this is important to her and develop an arts practice that is more focused and deeply reflective.
“I think my practice will always have the element of ‘identity’ - I’m interested in exploring it through different lenses,” she says.
The Helpmann Graduate Exhibition is at the SASA Gallery, Adelaide University, Fenn Place, Adelaide until Saturday, 21 March.
Other prize winners from the Flinders University/TAFE SA visual arts course are:
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