MEDIA RELEASE
Printmaking, but not as you know it in this ground-breaking exhibition by four artists to watch
Artists Fergus Berney-Gibson, Annabelle McEwen, Linda Sok, and Maddison Wandel expand what we think about printmaking. Bound by an experimental approach to materials and processes, this upcoming exhibition showcases a range of new approaches including 3D prints, textiles and clay, pewter casts of architectural details and image transfers onto athletic socks.
Curated by More Than Reproduction, the exhibition HARD/SOFT explores a range of contradictions in the very act of printmaking. Honing in on the interplay between materials, particularly the concepts of hardness and softness, the exhibition explores the tensions in-between when these polar opposites come into contact. These opposing forces converge, repel and are transformed in the final works that transcend traditional works on paper.
A Sydney-based artist run collective consisting of emerging curators Jennifer Brady, Millie Mitchell and Sarah Rose, More Than Reproduction was founded in 2019 for female-identifying and gender fluid artists. Since then, they have worked with a long list of artists to watch, expanding the field of printmaking through programs, online profiles, a string of exhibitions and recently a curated online publication. This latest exhibition HARD/SOFT at Megalo is the latest coup for these young curators and an exciting chance for Canberra audiences to engage with contemporary printmaking in Australia.
Opening Friday 22 August at 5:30pm at Megalo Print Studio.
Curator talk and artist meetup Saturday 4 October at 2pm at Megalo Print Studio.
“Determined by positive and negative, editioned and unique, clean and dirty, absence and presence–printmaking functions within a negotiation of opposites. 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.”
Jennifer Brady, Millie Mitchell and Sarah Rose, curators and founders, More Than Reproduction
“More Than Reproduction are no strangers to experimental printmaking, and I am absolutely intoxicated with this exhibition coming soon to Megalo. Bringing together some of the most exciting young artists working in Australia at the moment, there may be a few surprises in store. Printing with everything from 3D printing to the humble sock, everything is fair game in this print show.”
Clare Jackson, Artistic Director
About the curators
More Than Reproduction (MTR) is a Sydney-based artist-run initiative, co-founded by Jennifer Brady, Millie Mitchell and Sarah Rose. MTR is dedicated to strengthening printmaking practices across Australia by building a sense of creative community. This 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.
About the artists
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.
EXHIBITION DETAILS
Exhibition: HARD/SOFT
Dates: 23 August – 4 October
Opening event: Friday 22 August 5:30 – 7:30pm
Curator talk + artist meetup: Saturday 4 October, 2pm
Venue: Megalo Print Studio, 21 Wentworth Ave, Kingston 2604, Canberra
More info: www.megalo.org
Media contact:
Francis Kenna, General Manager
(02) 6232 6041 | 0423 336 098
