Join artist Jacky Cheng for a gentle, hands-on workshop at John Curtin Gallery that invites slow making, conversation, and reflection.
Open to Curtin students and the public, this Sunday afternoon session offers a welcoming, inclusive space to explore folding as a creative and ritual practice using paper.
Drawing on themes from Thania Petersen’s current Perth Festival exhibition A call and response across the ocean, participants will be guided through simple folding processes that encourage attentiveness to touch, repetition, and gesture. Folding becomes a quiet act of care: a way to hold stories, mark time, and connect across personal and shared experiences.
No prior experience is required. All materials are provided, and participants are invited to arrive as they are – curious, reflective and ready, to spend an afternoon making and thinking together.
Artist Bio
Jacky Cheng is a Malaysian-born artist of Chinese heritage based on Yawuru Country in Broome, Western Australia. Trained in architecture at the University of New South Wales, her sculptural and installation practice investigates ritual, diaspora and cultural transmission through materially driven processes, particularly paper and fibre.
Drawing from Taoist divination practices and intergenerational knowledge passed down through her grandmother, Cheng repositions domestic ritual within contemporary art contexts, examining how belief and cultural memory persist across time and geography. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including the Indian Ocean Craft Triennial (Fremantle Arts Centre), Cheongju Craft Biennale and Geumgang Nature Art Biennale (South Korea), National Art School (Sydney), and the Art Gallery of Western Australia. Cheng is the recipient of multiple national art awards and continues to develop work that bridges contemporary craft, cultural inquiry and cross-generational dialogue.
Event details
Sunday 15 March 2026
1:00pm – 3:00pm
John Curtin Gallery Atrium
Cost: $25 (Curtin Students); $45 (Curtin Staff/General Public)
Registrations essential, places are limited. Refunds will only be considered up to 48 hours before the event.
Photography
This event will be photographed and/or videoed and images will occasionally be used for promotional and marketing purposes, including social media. If you do not wish to be photographed or videoed, please notify staff at event registration.
Accessibility
Everyone is welcome at the John Curtin Gallery. Plan your visit to the John Curtin Gallery.
Image: Triangular grid fold. Image supplied by Jacky Cheng.
