Bronwyn Vaughan has had a long and distinguished career in theatre. She was a founding member of Pipi Storm, Australia’s first theatre-in-education company, touring extensively to community, school and theatrical venues all over Australia for many years. She has worked as both a solo, and ensemble performer. She is a actor, writer, maker, musician and producer.

In 2019, she undertook a BFA at National Art School with a major in sculpture. Her work in the last few years has involved creating large-scale installations which respond to layered histories in specific sites. And like the baseless fabric of this vision and These are my people are both site responsive installations based on The Women’s Cell Block, Darlinghurst Goal.

Her career in theatre has informed the performative nature of Vaughan’s work. Studying at National Art School has shown her that her sculptural and theatrical practices are not different, but rather, continuous in intention, process and outcome. The pillars on which her theatre practice was built have remained her guiding principles in sculpture: she makes through repetition, she presents her work by transforming the space it occupies, and she relies on the audience to activate its meaning. She has come to see her sculptures as sets, props and even performers that need an empty space and the presence of an audience for completion.

In sculpture, Vaughan uses weaving as a strategy for construction to move between craft, sculptural and architectural languages. She uses wire, steel and fabric to create large installations which are simultaneously strong and soft, solid and fragile, foundational and vulnerable. Her installations subvert dominant architectural structures to suggest other, more complex narratives. Her work intentionally seeks to disrupt, challenge and transform the space it occupies.

Vaughan’s highly performative installations, whilst large-scale, remain human, beguiling, joyful and intimate and invite a close and contemplative experience of form and colour.