Gallery 2

Cooking to widen the gap between us

20 May - 31 May 2026

Opening night

22 May | 6 - 8 pm

Gallery Hours:
Wednesday – Sunday: 10 am – 5 pm (please note last day of exhibition ends at 3pm)

ARTIST  STATEMENT 

Cooking to widen the gap between us is a body of work that explores the significance of food as a repository for memory and identity. Each drawing shows a different process involved in sharing food – from preparation, eating, serving to cleaning – which showcases collaboration, interplay of relationships and the broader cultural exchange of food. 

These drawings are a documentation of ongoing collaborative projects with friends who are invited to cook dishes from their upbringing with Sean. Moreover they are a personal reflection on his own relationship with food and his family. These drawings are the aftermath of the nostalgic, bittersweet untethering from his family and upbringing, and a rehearsal of alternate ways of being. 

By re-creating moments that have occurred at a table with charcoal, these drawings depict the fragility and ephemerality of human connection, using food and disembodied hands to represent how social gathering is underscored with the inevitability of separation. 

Thank you Kayli Van Der Westhuizen for introducing me to Pap and Sheba and showing me the intricacies of cooking it.

Thank you Mum for teaching me to leave pavlova in the oven overnight to soften the inside and harden the outside, even though I’m never organised enough to make it the night before. 

Thank you to Rania Hishman for your generosity in cooking and sharing Malay dishes and stories of your family, upbringing and experience living in Melbourne. 

And thank you to everyone who eats with me.

ARTIST  BIOGRAPHY

Sean (he/him) is a Naarm/Melbourne-based multi-disciplinary artist, working predominantly with charcoal. His work currently explores the process of making – from hosting food functions to using drawing as a tool to re-create and co-create fleeting moments that express the complexity of ourselves and the world we inhabit. He explores ephemerality and the inevitable and paradoxical separation which underscores social connection. A pivotal component to his practice involves the physical act of preparing and sharing food with others. 

Co-curated House Tour group show, Red Gallery 2025

Mouthful, RMIT Bachelor’s Graduate Exhibition, 2025

A4 Exhibition, Site 8 RMIT 2025

Co-curated Art in Every Hand, RMIT Studio, 2024

Education:

Bachelor of Fine Arts (Drawing) RMIT 2023-2025

Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) RMIT 2026