My studio is small and messy. There are textiles galore. Piles of tassels, polyester fringes, and pompoms spill out of open crates. Packets of screws and pins are scattered across the table and the floor. And there are piles of disassembled animal mannequins waiting for their turn.

Red Footed Companion (2023) is a large black cat-like form, sitting on its hind legs, with a red chest and front legs. It’s draped with a bulk of black and red polyester tassels that deform the piece slightly, making it a mound of fringe—a natural shape hidden under the bulk of its own materiality. The piece, a commission for [THE WORLD OF founder] Katerina Grant ... took several months of assembling materials and construction to deliver. It’s based on a smaller work with a similar colouration. The black and red motif makes me think of red-tailed black cockatoos.

The term ‘fake taxidermy’ comes from the idea that I’m putting a pelt over a form but instead of leather or fur, I’m using textiles. I think real taxidermy has its own luggage. But through presenting works that look at ideas of craft and decoration, the animal object becomes less about ecological ruination and more about how we place ourselves adjacent to nature, curating our own experiences of it.

A major project from 2023 was Mountain Climber, a 3.5 meter lion sculpture that was a commission for the National Gallery of Victoria. The piece was exhibited as part of Melbourne Now ... It’s covered in 9,000 fluffy, colourful pom-poms, which form a rainbow pelt over the lion. Pom-poms are a material I haven’t used for a number of years, so there was a bit of mental olympics re-familiarising myself with the material. But I like that there are processes and materials that come in and out of use within my practice over time.

Not particularly. I’m more nostalgic, if that word still applies, for the ancient past and the far distant future—long lost civilisations and far away galaxies, I think that’s more [about] the sublime than nostalgia though.