hard/soft
23 August - 4 October
Curated by More Than Reproduction
OPENING EVENT: 5:30pm, Friday 22 August
Annabelle McEwen, Embrace, 2025, silicone, protein powder, resin, 3D printed Polylactic Acid clamps, 30 x 30 x 2 cm. Image courtesy of the artist
Printmaking is a medium grounded in dualities. Determined by positive and negative, editioned and unique, clean and dirty, absence and presence–it functions within a constant negotiation of opposites. Print practice demands both rigidity and pliability–think of a metal matrix pressing into damp paper. It is bound by a decision-making structure that divides and defines; what is included is dependent on what is excluded.
Curated by More Than Reproduction, HARD/SOFT delves into the dichotomies of print practice, honing in on the interplay between hardness, softness, and the tensions in between. Artists Fergus Berney-Gibson, Annabelle McEwen, Linda Sok, and Maddison Wandel use expanded printmaking across a breadth of conceptual and material investigations. Their works directly or indirectly engage with this polarity, where opposing forces converge and repel through acts of transformation.
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More Than Reproduction (MTR) is a Sydney-based artist-run initiative, co-founded by Jennifer Brady, Millie Mitchell and Sarah Rose. We are dedicated to strengthening printmaking practices across Australia by building a sense of creative community. Our platform aims to bolster artists in the early stages of their careers by increasing their visibility and facilitating unique opportunities through an artistic program grounded in network building, peer-support, professional development and the diversification of audiences with print-practice.
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Fergus Berney Gibson
Fergus Berney-Gibson is an artist and writer based on Gadigal land whose practice explores fraternal historiography through a queer lens. Berney-Gibson addresses the politics of bodies coming together, case studied through an analysis of gendered behaviour and ritual. In his photo-sculptural practice, Berney-Gibson deconstructs and queers narrative forms — bildungsroman, gossip, and scripture — to propose alternative frameworks for connection. He combines found leathers, textiles, tools and domestic objects with fragmented photo-documentation. These accumulated fragments form an alternative archive of fraternal interaction — one that privileges touch, experience, and non-hierarchical historiographies.
Annabelle McEwen
Annabelle McEwen is an artist practising on unceded Gadigal Land. McEwen was awarded the Summer Fellowship at The State Library of NSW (2025), the Waverley Artist Studio Residency (2025), and The Ellen O’Shaughnessy Printmaking Award (2019). They were a finalist in The National Photographic Portrait Prize at The National Portrait Gallery (2024) among others. Their work has been exhibited widely, recently including solo exhibitions The Smartest Horse in the World at Ethan Frome and Dead Ringer at Tiles Lewisham. McEwen’s work has been acquired by The National Art School, The City of Sydney Art Collection, USQ Collection, RMIT, among others.
Linda Sok
Linda Sok has exhibited in institutions such as Textile Art Center (NY, USA), Center for Craft (NC, USA), Campbelltown Arts Centre (NSW, Australia), Institute of Modern Art (QLD, Australia), Gertrude Contemporary (VIC, Australia), Maloop (PHN, Cambodia) and the University of Copenhagen (CPH, Denmark). In 2024 she was awarded the Monash Room Emerging Artist Prize from the Australian Consulate in New York, and the Dorner Prize through the RISD Museum in Providence, RI. Notable publications that have written of her work include Artist Profile, Art Guide, Art Spiel, Liminal Magazine and Running Dog. Linda completed her MFA in Sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2025.
Maddison Wandel
Maddison is currently studying her Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) at Monash University and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Visual Art) from the Victorian College of the Arts, The University of Melbourne. Her recent exhibitions include the VCA GradShow 2024, Majlis Travelling Fellowship and co-curated exhibition Forest Falls Behind.
Events + Dates:
5:30pm, Friday 22 August: Exhibition Opening
All welcome!
HARD/SOFT is open 23 August - 4 October.
Megalo is open 9.30am - 5pm | Tuesday - Saturday