Yarraman at Work no. 5. Cliche-Verre and Chemigram on silver gelatin, 50.8cm x 61cm.
I haven’t gotten around to sharing much of my artwork yet from Grad show on here - but this work is part of a series of drawings and silver gelatin prints I did for it.
I have finally wrapped up with honours, submitted my exegesis and awaiting results patiently ☺️
For those who are curious as to what on earth a chemigram is - chemigrams is a particular darkroom technique where I have introduced resists onto the surface of the silver gelatin. This makes the work inherently anti-archival as I have disrupted the development process. I contact printed my drawings onto the silver gelatin (cliche-verre).
I’ve been approached my work under an Indigenous Futurist framework in considering my ancestors narratives. This particular work looks at my ancestors experiences being displaced to the stations and experiences with Indentured Labour. My ancestor Sarah Scully was known to be a very competent horse woman and drover. I’m sure much at the expense of her physical suffering. Her hands have been replaced with cybernetic enhancements here in considering the parallels between the past, present and future. During the process of making this year I became interested in what Alondra Nelson identifies as the current future-divide, where “women and people of colour are on one side of the Utopian equation and bourgeois techno-culture is positioned on the other. I think it’s very relevant and important in considering how exclusionary (or inclusionary) technology can be and what this means on a broader scale for people of colour.
As this work is anti-archival I am refusing the archival desire to capture my ancestors knowledges in a homogenised sense. It was really interesting to see over the course of the exhibition how my body of work changed under light every day. I doubt this work will look like as it does now in this post as it does it in the future
Absolutely loving these portraits of me for @artshowfactory . We will be having an exhibition soon at QCAD. Opening night is on the 11th of Dec - If you missed my grad works at the honours exhibition you will get the opportunity to see them again soon 😌 Photos by @spotwillows and @finnianmullen
Chelsea Carkeet (they/ them) is a Bachelor of CAIA and Visual Arts Honours graduate, Yanyuwa/Garrwa artist with kinship ties to Gulumerridjin (Larrakia) and Wagiman Country, and a diverse cultural heritage including Mãori, Chinese, and English ancestry.
“I’ve approached my work under an Indigenous Futurist framework in considering my ancestors narratives. This particular work looks at my ancestors experiences being displaced to the stations and experiences with Indentured Labour. My ancestor Sarah Scully was known to be a very competent horse woman and drover. I’m sure much at the expense of her physical suffering.
Her hands have been replaced with cybernetic enhancements here in considering the parallels between the past, present and future. During the process of making this year I became interested in what Alondra Nelson identifies as the current future-divide, where “women and people of colour are on one side of the Utopian equation and bourgeois techno-culture is positioned on the other. I think it’s very relevant and important in considering how exclusionary (or inclusionary) technology can be and what this means on a broader scale for people of colour.
As this work is anti-archival I am refusing the archival desire to capture my ancestors knowledges in a homogenised sense. It was really interesting to see over the course of the exhibition how my body of work changed under light every day. I doubt this work will look like as it does now in this post as it does it in the future 22 November.”
We can’t wait to see what’s next in store for you, @coloursofchelsea
Images and text reposted @coloursofchelsea ✨ #qcad #griffithuniversity @griffithalumni #firstnationsart #indigenousart #caia
Chelsea Carkeet (they/them) is a Yanyuwa/Garrwa artist with kinship ties to Gulumerridjin (Larrakia) and Wagiman Country, and a diverse cultural heritage including Māori, Chinese, and English ancestry. Based in Magandjin (Brisbane), their practice—shaped by ancestral narratives and lived experience as a displaced First Nations person—examines how gaps within archives, arising from the exclusion of Indigenous ephemeral and embodied knowledges, provoke speculative inquiry.
Using sci-fi–inspired imagery, Carkeet rejects Western archival claims to truth imposed under the guise of scientific authority, while simultaneously appropriating and exposing the underlying mythologies embedded within ethnographic photo-objects. Working with silver gelatin photographic paper, they integrate temporal drawing practices with experimental darkroom techniques, particularly chemigrams. As chemically unstable and inherently anti-archival photo-objects, these works assert that cultural ancestry is dynamic and living, reflecting Indigenous concepts of space-time thinking. Rather than resolving gaps in ancestral knowledge, they seek to widen them to a fantastical extent to make them obvious, offering new ways to honour their ancestors’ stories.
Carkeet has received numerous scholarships during their studies at the Queensland College of Art and Design. In 2025, Carkeet was a featured artist on the projection façade of the Judith Wright Centre. Their 2024 exhibition history includes the Queensland State Archives, Woolloongabba Art Gallery, and multiple other group exhibitions.
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One of my latest drawings I have been working towards in the darkrooms for honours project. Continuation of the chemigram techniques I have been exploring, taking advantage of sci-fi or speculative based narratives and in representing my ancestors stories.
Has been a little nerve wracking working to the 50 x 60cm scale. Mostly because, if you are familiar with chemigrams there is an element of risk and lack of control in how the resists (in this case - honey and aloe Vera gel) will react with the photo chemicals.
What a beautiful and life changing trip it was to Gulumerridjin (Larrakia) Country, visiting family, meeting community, attending DAAF, Fashion awards, TELSTRA awards, and NIMAs. Got to attend so many fantastic exhibitions and learnt more in a week than I could have over the period of two years. A touching experience. Thank you Larrakia Country for taking care of us and my ancestors.
