Inpatient by Tess Hider

Tess Hider shares personal experiences of disability and chronic pain, speaking to broader complex and intersectional realities of acquired disabilities.

Opening celebration night

Date:Wednesday 9 April

Time: 5-7pm

Colourful circles art Tess Hider, Hip hole detail, (digital photo), 2024. Image courtesy of the artist

Inpatient by Tess Hider

Tess Hider shares personal experiences of disability and chronic pain, speaking to broader complex and intersectional realities of acquired disabilities. Inpatient features soft sculptures responding to her recent hip surgery, hospital stay, and recovery, as well as a lifetime of disability-related experiences. The large scale of the works bring attention to the realities of invisible illness, while the soft forms create a humorous, and comforting aesthetic that allows the topic of disability to be more approachable for the viewer. Shapes, colours and motifs associated with Tess’s experiences presented in Inpatient bring attention to the marginalisation of disabled communities and invite us to address ableism in society and offer greater accessibility through art.

 

Artist Biography

Tess Hider is a multidisciplinary artist working across installation, painting, and craft. Her work visualises personal experiences, emotions and feelings associated with disability and chronic pain, and the personal, social, financial, and political impacts. She uses humour, Pop art aesthetics, and large scale to engage with serious topics of pain, illness and medical spaces in a light-hearted way. Tess offers her own experiences to prompt conversations about wider disability awareness in society.

I feel the art I make gives the pain I experience a purpose. If I were to find a positive, I wouldn’t be able to make these works without my adverse life experience as influences.

– Tess Hider

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Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.

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