Sam McPherson, Sigrid Macdonald & Tyler Solleder
5 March - 26 April 2026 NRCG Gallery, Ballina
Exploring how communication and connection manifests in distinctly individual and infinitely unique ways, the artists invite the audience to consider multiple perspectives through expansive, open-ended ways to interact with the environment in this space.
"What happens when we move through spaces? What happens when space moves through us? How does our presence alter your present?"
This immersive art exhibition explores the relationship between humans and nature through the sensory qualities of moss. The project creates a multi-sensory environment designed to engage visitors through touch and sound, and by integrating innovative accessibility features.
Images 1 - 3: SheMossLed: Reimagining Human Connection (installation views)
Auslan Creative is a major project working with the Northern Rivers Deaf community and multi-artform partners. Following a two year development period focused on community engagement and relationship building, the Auslan Creative Festival was held over three days in September 2022. A program of workshops, exhibitions and events engaging both Deaf and hearing participants were delivered, offering vital reconnection opportunities through significant global and local distruption, including the Covid-19 pandemic, and the catastrophic flooding in the Northern Rivers regioan in 2022.
Project History – by Arts Northern Rivers
"This project responded to an approach made by Lismore-based Deaf arts worker Sigrid Macdonald, who identified a gap in creative opportunities for the Deaf community in the Northern Rivers region. By bringing together the deaf community and creative partners in workshop-based development opportunities, Auslan Creative engaged both Deaf and hearing participants through music, visual arts, performing arts and screen.
Staggered due to the impacts of Covid-19, the project began delivery in 2020 and over the past years has delivered a creative development program aimed at exploring models for collaboration and practice development between artists of diverse lived experience and cultures, as well as a community forum to inform and inspire the next stage of the project.
Programming for the screen based explorations commenced on the 30th July in 2020 with Screenworks delivering a series of film writing workshops. The intimate lab series worked with two local participants on developing a factual-based film project. The participants were mentored weekly through to the 10th of September by award-winning short filmmaker, Karenza Ebejer, who has a talent for finding unique stories and bringing them to screen. During the workshops, the participants were given the opportunity to explore creative storytelling ideas with the outcome of producing a concept document, script and teaser for a short film.
Exploring performing arts, Arts Northern Rivers engaged Deaf contemporary dancer and choreographer Anna Seymour to deliver Ritual, Re-Route, Re-Connect. The movement-based workshop was supported by NORPA by hosting the event in Lismore City Hall in August 2020. Ritual explored participatory models of working with Deaf and hearing participants through movement and dance."
Arts Northern Rivers received funding to deliver this multi-arts project through the Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund and by the NSW Government through Create NSW. Information can be found here: Auslan Creative: Arts Northern Rivers
Sigrid has held the roles of Creative Producer 2022 -2023 and Artistic Director 2024-2025 with Flow Festival Australia, a grassroots, Deaf-led arts organisation that is exploring creative ways of arts engagement and nurturing allyship in the spaces and creative partnerships where traditional power and access structures have hindered genuine inclusion. Flow has worked in creative collaborations to represent and create spaces for the full depth of our community's diverse lived and cultural experiences.
As the outgoing Artistic Director, Sigrid is most proud of the work to build relationships with stakeholders at local, state and federal levels to communicate about and celebrate Deaf creative expression, as well as the work to explore and embed allyship and co-leadership models in Flow's strategic direction.
Following a passion for creating space and access where there was none; considering the inequities and barriers to authentic representation for the full diversity of voices and creators to share their work Sigrid has curated a number of visual arts exhibitions, and multi-artform projects that create intentional space for new stories and perspectives.
Curator: Face Me | The Art of Deafhood, Lismore Regional Gallery, 2021
Featured artists: Katrina Garvey, Kai Gecso-Thorndycraft, Claire Bridge & Chelle Destefano with Haley Martin, Oliver Eliott, Angie Goto, Willie Mutton, Sue Jo Wright and Ron Wild.
Curator: Streetlight | Meet Me There, Elevator ARI, 2022
Featured artists: Oliver Elliot, Kai Gecso-Thorndycraft, Narelle Caldwell, and Katrina Garvey
Curator: Unfolding, Abbotsford Convent, 2025
Visual arts exhibition featuring 18 artists during Flow Festival 2025
Curator: Untitled, Banksia Gallery, Darebin Arts Centre 2023
Visual arts exhibition featuring emerging and established Deaf and hard of hearing artists during Flow Festival 2023
Creative Producer: Flow Festival 2023 - Gather | Play | Exchange, Darebin Arts Centre Melbourne
Artistic Director: Flow Festival 2025 - Ripples of Light, Echos of Unity, Abbotsford Convent
Producer and instigator: Auslan Creative Festival, Lismore 2022
In 2025 Accessible Arts NSW engaged Macro Impact Consulting to work with their team as they developed their new series of the Access Ideas & Insights Podcast, providing facilitation, consulting and advisory support.
From website: "Each episode is Auslan interpreted, captioned, accompanied by audio-described visuals, and released with a full transcript. Closed captions are available via our website and open captions on Spotify.
Developed in consultation with Macro Impact Consulting and experienced d/Deaf advisors, this series is designed to be as inclusive and accessible as possible, and we’ll keep evolving the access as we learn more. Accessible Arts acknowledges that access is a place of learning, so throughout the series we will continue to develop the access so that we can be a catalyst for change within the arts and cultural sector.
This podcast is proudly produced by Accessible Arts, Arts Development Manager Amy Mills and Kiera Brew Kurec with sound design by Tralala Blip. Access consulting was provided by Macro Impact Consulting and our Advisory Group."