Artist statement
Through my work, I often examine the complex relationships between people, materials and objects within the systems of capitalism. I seeks out the moments where subject-object relations might exist outside these systems as a way of considering alternatives to them. I have an ongoing practice of observing and collecting within daily life from which my research and creative works often evolve.
Bio
Aphra Cheesman (b. 1989, Auckland) is a contemporary jeweller currently living and working in Naarm/Melbourne. Her practice includes contemporary jewellery, objects, drawing, video and sculpture. Aphra graduated from RMIT with a BA Fine Art (Honours) in 2020 and has also completed a diploma in Jewellery and Object design at Melbourne Polytechnic. In 2019 she was selected for the Fresh! Graduate exhibition at Craft Victoria and the Gallery Marzee International Graduate Show (NL). She was also a finalist in Talente 2022 (DE). Aphra is the recipient of the Future Leaders award (Craft Victoria, 2019), the Joel Elenberg prize (RMIT, 2020) and the Emily Hope award (RMIT, 2020).
Rad Pav (Part 2)
‘Unbounded’ is a project I’ve been working on since the beginning of the year alongside three friends and fellow artists Gaia Maria Walicka, Jennifer Baulch and Nao Hirata. We all recently finished studying at RMIT (where we met) and decided to start catching up...
Rad Pav (Part 1)
Radiant Pavilion Contemporary Jewellery and Object Biennial took place last week here in Melbourne. Due to yet another lockdown, most projects were online, while a handful of exhibitions could be viewed in person in gallery windows or interacted with around the...
Gleanings (part 1)
To glean: ‘to gather information or material bit by bit’ (Meriam-webster) I thought it would be good to put together a list of some of the recent things I’ve been learning, reading, watching and listening to; some artists whose work I’ve been looking at and...
Some recent things…
We are now well into our second year of Handshake6 and recently it has been go go go. We have started our online masterclass with Estela Saez which has been fantastic so far (more on this soon!), I had a great chat with Lisa which provided lots of things to think...
Aphra Cheesman‘s art works:
