15-29 August 2026 ::: Melody Owen // Pearl Hyacinth (internet via USA) -> hand cut collage by Melody Owen and augmented reality (AR) animations’ project with guest artists plus the 10 year retrospective of digital avatar, Pearl Hyacinth highlighting some of their adventures in virtual reality (VR), immersive environments in extended reality (XR) and digital worlds
Melody Owen (USA) is an interdisciplinary artist, writer and curator from Portland, Oregon, who works with installation, video, photography, digital processes and hand cut collage. Melody explores technology, ecology and the embodied perception and communication of reality via different types of living forms. She’s specifically interested in the voices and languages of bird, insect and animal species as well as the interconnected and entangled nature of us — including mycelium, moss and plant life. Melody mixes conceptual “poetry” with ideas around ecology and technology. Most recently, she has been exploring these issues through 3D virtual worlds. Her digital representative, Pearl Hyacinth is a nomadic multiverse avatar who has been curating and creating work within existing social, creative virtual 3D worlds for the past ten years. Some of her recent work took place within the context and with the support of the University of New South Wales during her practice-based research for an unfinished PhD.
Melody has an MFA in Electronic Integrated Arts, a MA in Environmental Arts and Humanities and a BA in photography. She has exhibited in film festivals, galleries and museums and has been awarded ten different artist residency fellowships around the world, including in Paris, Austria, Iceland, Switzerland and Quebec. She was represented by Elizabeth Leach Gallery in Portland for 22 years.
In this exhibition, Melody Owen’s Portrait Gallery : Fabulous Monsters series of hand cut collages are on display. These images made from picture books of colonial Australians and Australian seashells have accompanying augmented reality (AR) animations when viewed via a digital device — the collages come alive in the digital space.
The Hyacinth Report, a ten-year retrospective of Pearl Hyacinth’s adventures building and adding animal voices to virtual worlds will also be shown.
Portrait Gallery : Fabulous Monsters collaged portraits & curation by Melody Owen.
Augmented reality animations by: Anna Malina, Carla Knopp, Chris Coleman, ilan katin, Isa Kost, James Alec Hardy, Michelle Brown, Olof Pettersson, Sabato, SubNet, Théo Uchôa and Zak Margolis. Exhibition runs 15-29 August 2026. Gallery open sat+sun 12-3pm.
During the exhibition, Pearl will be in Arrival Space: https://arrival.space/foxp2 + https://arrival.space/pearl
On the final day, Saturday 29 August, Pearl will host a closing party online in Second Life at https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Motherland/54/169/73
Artist Links
https://www.instagram.com/melodyowen
https://www.instagram.com/hyacinthreport
https://www.youtube.com/@HyacinthReport
https://linktr.ee/pearlhyacinth
Roomsheet
Press / Listings
August 2026. Artforum Artguide
August 2026. City of Sydney WhatsOn
August 2026. Invisible Art Space press release (PDF)