Acknowledgements
I respectfully acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the unceded lands that I live and
work on, and that this research has taken place, the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Boon
Wurrung peoples of the eastern Kulin nation and the Whadjuk Boodjar peoples of the
Noongar nation. I pay my respects to their Elders, past present and emerging. I acknowledge
that on a daily basis I am granted settler-colonial privileges as an uninvited guest on these
stolen lands.
Deepest thanks to Associate Prof. Mikala Dwyer for your warmth, openness and always
unwavering support and confidence in my practice over the years. Deepest thanks to Dr.
Laresa Kosloff and Dr. Drew Pettifer for both your rigorous and critical analysis of my
dissertation, of which would have not taken its trajectory without your generous contributions
and challenges to my thinking.
Thank you to my parents, Catherine Tan Hwee Kian and Peter Tan Ngee Huat for the
sacrifices you have made in order to privilege my life. Thank you: Audrey Tan, James Cooper
and Sebastian Temple for your various manifestations of care and emotional support,
encouragement, feedback and openness to talk about art and doubt throughout this extended
period of time. Thank you for connection, Jemi Gale, Victoria Jost, Chris Doyle and Robyn
Tran. Eternal gratitude to the ocean in its enigmatic and emotional vastness, for bestowing
upon me the power to feel reborn each time I am immersed, wherever and whenever that is
and has been. Thank you Andre Liew, Ceri Hann and Raph Buttonshaw for technical support
and RMIT for financial support throughout this period.
