A Common Practice

🥹😢 it’s with sadness and gratitude that I’m pulling the curtains on A Common Practice for the foreseeable future. Life and other demands have gotten in the way, and I’m unfortunately not able to give ACP the focus it deserves. I want to give my deepest most heartfelt thankyou to everyone who took part and contributed over the years. When we started ACP a few years ago, there wasn’t anything like it in Melbourne, and we experimented with ways of meeting, sharing working, structuring our discussions, landing on something that was fun, generative and rewarding. It’s been an honour to have met you all and connect over our shared love of image making. ACP was from the outset designed as a communal space, something like a reprieve from the insular making, and artworld competitiveness that unfortunately frames so much of the work we do. I’ve enjoyed every minute of sharing that with you all. Maybe ACP will come back in some form in the future. But for now, it’s something I hope you will join me in looking back fondly on. Thankyou again to everyone who attended, to all the artists and contributors who took part, to our regulars, one-time drop ins and the rest. Much love to you all xx

For the next meeting of @a.common.practice i am honoured to introduce our guest for this month, Dylan Negri. Dylan Negri is an experimental photographer who explores using the dark room, specifically certain chemical processes creatively and abstractly to craft images that seem to create their own context around them – sometimes new images appear from some kind of archeology work - “degraded” looking family photos found in an abandoned attic. Sometimes the subject and environment of the shot is entirely jettinsoned to leave just the abstract play of colour and shape, blurring the lines between different artformts. Dylan says “my motivation with the work I explore has a lot to do with repurposing expired/fogged photographic paper, discarded cans and organic matter. Through these materials, I explore and encourage sustainable and more accessible approaches to image making. During my residency at Edendale Farm the surrounding community and environment played an integral role in shaping each piece. I continue to expand my work based on the same principles I explored at Edendale Farm. Every artwork becomes a visual story, where the materials and process leaves a trace and each step creates roots that connect the artwork to the people and the environment.” Everyone is welcome to come and be involved in discussions. We will be meeting at the back of the Alderman bar at 6pm, April 1st (ie first Wednesday of each month)….cyu 🫵there!!

A Common Practice returns next Wednesday with guest coordinators Phoebe Kelly (@phoebejkelly )and Karl Halliday (@karl_halliday ). They will be joined by two very special guests; Ponch Hawkes (@ponchhawkes ), whose trailblazing documents of LGBT+ life in the 70s is currently on display at the NGV; and Bella Capezio (@isabella_capezio ), whose public installation ‘To Build A Home’ was recently commissioned by Mornington Peninsula Shire as part of Midsumma festival. Kicking off at 6pm at the Alderman. All are welcome 🫶

Our October meet up is this Wednesday from 630pm! Our guest artist is @tailahoffman !! Hope to see you there x

Our September meetup will be on Wednesday 10th @the_alderman_bar from 6pm. Stoked to have @kyrajensenn as our special guest. Kyra is a photo book designer and publisher -> you can check out her awesome work @murexstudio 👀 Hope to see you next week!

We’re back tomorrow night @the_alderman_bar - apologies for going AWOL. Come down and hear me complain for 5 minutes about completing my 3rd PhD milestone then watch me share work for 30 mins I made for that milestone. Plus plenty of time for ppl to share what they’ve been up to!

Selected images from “Then We Keep Living” by @csiuuu Chris shared these images at our meet-up on Wednesday. Shot in part during the 2019–2020 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and continued after his emigration to Australia, this body of work traces a deeply personal and political trajectory. What blows me away is the way this work folds in on itself—articulating, with quiet force, a layered dialogue into geopolitics, political refuge, and transnational diaspora identity. These are not just documents of protest or displacement, but evolving gestures of memory and resistance. It’s rare to see work that carries within it such a palpable evolution over time—shifting geographies, but holding steady to the emotional truth of what’s been lived.

Super special thanks to @sarahpannell for being such an insightful and generous guest artist at last nights meet up! Was a great evening !! And big thanks also to @mqrgs , @ric.hid and @csiuuu for sharing your work with the group 🙌🏻

Images from ‘Odlazak’, a WIP by @sarahpannell , shot through Bosnia and Serbia. Sarah is our guest artist this week! Meeting @the_alderman_bar from 630 this Wednesday!

🎊 ‼️ Super excited to have @sarahpannell as our guest artist for the April meet up ‼️🎊 Sarah’s work has come up a lot in our discussions over the years, so will be great to speak to her about her work and hear her input on the work shared this month! Meeting @the_alderman_bar from 630pm Wednesday 2nd of April! 👀 see you there!

Tomorrow from 6pm Late notice soz x

🌅 Fun one tonight with @deandelandre