Day Dreamer / Night Thinker is a solo exhibition by Saskia Haalebos, a multidisciplinary artist based in Kamberri/Canberra. Haalebos explores intersections of mortality, empathy and modes of mis/communication across a range of media, including animation, text and various print media. The artist’s recent works are a reflection of personal loss, grief and memory following the passing of her grandmother, exploring the way we process these themes by way of a concept-and-process driven curiosity.

“On a sunny winter morning in 2022 I lost my beloved Nan. People remarked, ‘Oh she was 100?! At least she had a long life!’ Though well intentioned, I could only nod, tuck my sorrow back under my coat and ask questions of something else. Nan and I shared many things: holidays, secrets, cups of tea, road trips, a birthday. This year was my first without her, and so I took a sandwich and thermos to the cemetery, sat on a bench in her shawl and whimpered in the wind. We’re not very good at grief in the West. People seem uncomfortable, obligated, annoyed. I have found it a very solitary and confusing time.

Day Dreamer / Night Thinker is many things. A self portrait of sorts. A mediation on mortality. A processing of loss. Of trying to keep contained. Of letting go and of trying to hold on.”

Saskia Haalebos is a multidisciplinary artist working with animation, book arts, film, performance, printmaking, text—whatever the idea calls for around themes of mortality, empathy and mis/communication. She has held numerous solo shows across Australia, and has recently been artist in residence with The Unconformity (TAS), Canberra Contemporary Art Space, and Megalo Print Studio; and is currently the inaugural M16 Artspace Studio Artist Resident.

Wednesday 12 July: Join us from 5pm – 7pm, as we celebrate the opening of Day Dreamer / Night Thinker, to be opened by Iutruwita/Tasmania writer Jane Rawson.

Image credit: Saskia Haalebos, The Filling and Disappearing (frame 183), 2023, screenprint as screenshot, 126mm x 87mm