09-29 November 2026 ::: Emily Simek (Mel) and Shelley Watters (Syd) → with, together: greens and browns is an expansive, collaborative project between Emily Simek (Naarm/Melbourne) and Shelley Watters (Gadigal and Wangal/Sydney) that explores gardening as a context for art-making mediated by technology.
The foundation of the project is informed by each artists’ established processes in composting as part of their experimental art practices. The title “with, together” is drawn from the etymology of the prefix “com-”; which appears frequently in daily use; compost, commune, communicating, computing, combining, companionship, and compassion.
Approaching collaboration as an invitation for action, the artists “dig into each other’s compost piles” so to speak, where the term “pile” refers both to the literal compost piles in their gardens, and the sharing of archival work, materials, skills and technologies within their respective art practices.
Living apart and unable to meet together in their physical gardens, the artists ask the question of how to compost together at a distance. This unfolded over months of weekly online calls and messages, through a co-mingling of art practice, friendship and skills exchange, alongside embedding of technologies such as endoscopic cameras and flat-bed scanners within the garden ecology.
with, together: greens and browns culminates in a joint studio residency and work-in-progress showing at Invisible Art Space, where “greens and browns” is the ephemera that has emerged from a nutrient rich layering of distinctive practices.
:::
Exhibition opening event / work in progress showing 21 November 2026, 12-3pm
Exhibition continues / gallery open 21, 22, 28, 29 November 2026, 12-3pm
invisible art space : 141/2-18 Buchanan St, Balmain
Video Making Workshop – 14 November (2-4 pm)
Join us for a guided walk and video-making workshop as part of 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽, 𝓉ℴ𝑔ℯ𝓉𝒽ℯ𝓇: 𝑔𝓇ℯℯ𝓃𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒷𝓇ℴ𝓌𝓃𝓈 with @emily_simek @shelleywatters
📍 Saturday 14 Nov, 2 – 4pm, @invisibleart.space, Wangal Country
📹 Led by Naarm-based artist Emily Simek, this workshop will engage with local plant communities through experimental video making. Using a DIY approach, we will co-produce and screen a video work onsite in the garden verges adjacent to Invisible Art Space.
🌼 Emily will share her way of making a video ‘daisy chain’ —a process for collective video making that recalls her childhood memories of stringing wildflowers together to form chains, shared as necklaces.
🚶🏽♀️Through a process of walking, embodied listening, and foraging for recordings, this workshop invites close observation of the relationships between flowering plants as a way to attune to place and season.
Meeting on the unceded lands of the Wangal people, we acknowledge their deep knowledge, connection and care for the plants, animals, sky, and waterways of Country. We offer respect to elders, past, present and emerging and extend that respect to First Nations people globally.
⬆️ Free tickets, book via https://events.humanitix.com/with-together-greens-and-browns-workshop-with-emily-simek-and-shelley-watters
Where: Invisible Art Space, 41 / 2-18 Buchanan St, Balmain, Wangal Country
Access: Invisible Art Space is wheelchair accessible and there are bathrooms available. The walk will include slopes and varied pathway surfaces. The route we take is adaptable depending upon participant needs. This event has a maximum of 10 participants, and is relatively low-sensory (one of your co-hosts is AuDHD). Please get in touch with us to discuss your access needs.
Equipment: Please bring a smartphone to use for video filming, or similar device.
All welcome, no video experience required.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DelfJuADapm
Artist Biographies
Shelley Watters. b 1981, Meanjin (Brisbane)
https://www.shelleywatters.com
Shelley Watters (she/they) is an artist and curator who resides and creates on the unceded lands of the Gadigal and Wangal peoples. Their practice is driven by an expansive, action-led approach that often invites community participation. They work fluidly across installation, photo media, textiles, sound and video to investigate entanglement and repair.
Their work has been included in group shows at Chrissie Cotter Gallery, George Paton Gallery, Verge Gallery and Articulate Project Space. In 2026, they were artist-in-residence at Carss Bush Park Artist Cottage, supported by Georges River Council. They hold a BVA from Sydney College of the Arts and a Permaculture Design Certificate from CERES, Brunswick. Watters is a late-diagnosed autistic person and late-blooming artist. Their career in marketing and communications spans more than 20 years with roles in the arts and non-profit sectors.
Emily Simek. b 1991, Naarm (Melbourne)
Emily Simek (she/her) has a relational, interspecies approach to her art practice which comprises textiles, digital art, writing, gardening and social practice. Informed by methodologies in composting, and grounded by a commitment to group processes, she develops her work through participation in food webs, local networks of exchange, and collective gardening. She lives and works on Wurundjeri Country, Victoria.
Ongoing collective projects include ‘co-worm-ing’ with Grey Dear, Joy Zhou, and a mobile worm farm (2023–), gardening with Patch-Work (2023–), and providing tech support for WORLDWIDEWORMS.NET (2024–), an online space for publishing of draft, in-progress or adjacent creative work.
Simek’s recent exhibitions include Wangaratta Art Gallery, KINGS Artist-Run, Composite Moving Image Agency, MARS Gallery, and Blindside ARI. She is a recipient of the Noel Counihan Commemorative Art Award and VCA50 Creative Development Grant, and has untaken residencies with Next Wave, City of Melbourne and Centre of Visual Art.
Press / Listings
October 2026. AliaK [filter] listing
October 2026. Artforum Artguide (archived version)
October 2026. City of Sydney WhatsOn (archived version)
October 2026. Humantix listing – Video Making Workshop
October 2026. Inner West WhatsOn (exhibition) (archived version)
October 2026. Inner West WhatsOn (video making workshop) (archived version)
