An immersive participatory exhibition exploring exhaustion, care, creativity and the restorative power of play.
When did running on empty become the norm?
Most of us are moving through life tired.
Pushing through. Keeping up. Holding it together.
We’ve learned to call it normal.Running on Empty explores this quiet exhaustion and opens up space to consider something else.
Running On Empty
We are not just tired.
Many of us move through daily life carrying more than what is seen shaped by expectations that were never clearly chosen, but quietly learned over time.
Ideas about productivity, care, success, and self-sacrifice have become so familiar they are rarely questioned. They ask for constant output, quiet endurance, and a version of ourselves that can hold everything together. Over time, this weight builds. Not always in dramatic ways but in small, steady accumulations.A mind that doesn’t switch off.A body that keeps going.A sense that something feels full, but not always clear.This exhibition creates space to pause inside that experience. To notice what has been normalised. To recognise what has been carried.To see the structures that shape how we live, and how we come to see ourselves within them.
There are no instructions here, and nothing to fix.Only an invitation, to look, to reflect, and to consider what might shift if even a small space were made for something of your own.
Holding it together
Holding is a full body activity.
Long before things fall apart, most of us learn to do something else instead.
We brace..... We tighten.....We carry..........We keep going.
From the outside, this can look like strength.
From the inside, it can feel like everything is being held in place by effort.
This chair is not broken. It is working very, very hard. This is what coping can look like.
This is how we learned to live.
No one meant harm
What was given
These works explore the rules that were never written down,
but widely understood.Passed quietly through families, relationships, and culture
they shape how space is taken, how voices are used,
and who is allowed to be fully seen.Often framed as care, safety, or love,
they ask for adjustment, restraint, and self-monitoring in return.What is passed down is rarely questioned.What is carried is rarely visible.These pieces sit within that tension
between what is expected and what is felt,
between what is shown and what is lived.Not all of these rules were chosen.Most are still being carried.
Don't be a girl
Imagine being the thing someone else is told not to be.
Standard fit
The standard isn’t neutral.For women, it often means adapting to discomfort, exposure, or risk.
Given space
Some are given room. Others are expected to find what’s left..
Bound before love
What feels like love now was not always born from it.
The past does not vanish it echoes forward.
Good girl
She was never born this way.
She was assembled, piece by piece into something easier to hold.
Nothing else moved
They were told they could be everything.
The structure remained.
Don’t go out after dark
She was never born this way.
She was assembled, piece by piece into something easier to hold.
Known to them
Each spiral marks a life lost already this year.
In many cases, the person responsible was known to them
a partner, a family member, someone close.
Not distant.
Not rare.
Closer than we want to believe.
Quietly reshaping
These works explore the spaces
where technology quietly reshapes the way we live.Always available.
Always responding.
Always asking for more.Designed to hold attention,
they make endless feel normal
and absence feel uncomfortable.What is shared is carefully selected.
What is carried is often unseen.These pieces sit within that tension
between connection and consumption,
between the life that is shown
and the one that is quietly lived.Not every system was built for our wellbeing.Many were built to keep us looking.
Always ON
Open 24/7.
No closing time for what’s expected.
Lost in the noise
600+ messages a day.
Not all of these thoughts are mine.
Engineered to keep you
It looks like choice.
It works like control.
Doom scroll
Endless input.
Less and less of you.
Standing worlds apart
Two worlds, side by side.
Only one is ever seen.
Parenthood
These works explore the invisible weight
of caring, carrying, and continuing.Much of what parenthood asks for
cannot be measured.
It is given quietly,
day after day,
often without witness.Love and exhaustion
can exist together.
Strength and vulnerability
can live in the same moment.What is seen is only part of the story.
Behind it are the invisible loads
of expectation, recovery, grief, resilience,
and the need to be cared for, too.These pieces sit within that tension
between giving and becoming,
between what is celebrated
and what is quietly endured.No one was meant to carry this alone.
Yet many still do.
Given everything
Flamingos lose their colour after having young.
It can take years to return.
Not because something is wrong
but because their bodies gave everything they had.
Hurts to be human
To be human is to feel deeply, to carry things that are not always visible, and not always easy to name.Some choose to make that visible.
In doing so, they don’t stand apart they reflect something shared.
Before we name it
Before we name it, we should ask what’s missing.Support, connection, rest... the things that hold a person steady are not always there.Not everything is a disorder. Sometimes, it’s the absence of what we need.
Mother's Care
A child is not meant to be held by one alone.Care expands when it is shared and a mother needs holding too.
Beyond expectations
Not all journeys to motherhood are visible.What is seen is only a fraction behind it, cycles of hope, loss, and endurance, often carried in silence.
No mum walks alone
One step after another.Holding everything.From the outside, it looks simple.
But it can feel heavy.Lonely in ways that are hard to name.We were never meant to do this alone.Sometimes, all it takes is someone walking beside you.
Always in flight
Fight, flight, freeze or fawn.Different responses.Same instinct...to stay safe.
What was given
These works explore the spaces
between what is experienced
and what is understood.Not everything that is lived
has the language to describe it.
Not everything that is felt
is immediately believed.What is missing
can shape a life as much as what is present
research left undone,
questions left unanswered,
experiences explained away.These pieces sit within that tension
between evidence and experience,
between being heard
and being dismissed,
between what the body knows
and what the world is still learning to see.Understanding begins
when we stop asking people
to carry the gaps alone.
A life in fragments
When everything demands attention,
something gives.
Too much to hold.
Not enough space to think.
Just keeping things going.
Asked to live inside it
Over time, what is felt is explained away.
The gap
Some differences are recognised quickly.
Others take far longer to matter.
Between what is sold and what is understood, there is a gap.
Truth mic
Over time, feeling becomes something to dismiss.
What is felt is real.
Not everything needs explaining away.
Strength to unravel
The climb was never neutral.
Not all strength is in holding.
Some of it is in letting go.
Still here
Exhaustion doesn’t always look like stopping.
It makes us disappear from ourselves.We keep showing up.
We keep holding things together.
And slowly, we become harder to see even to ourselves.This is not because we are gone.
It’s because we have been giving so much.For generations, this kind of giving has been expected, absorbed, repeated until it feels normal.And the body keeps the score.
What was once carried quietly does not stay silent forever.There comes a point, often later than we expect where the cost becomes visible.Play restores what constant care depletes.
Support is not optional, it is preventative.
The power of play
After recognition, something begins to shift.This space invites a different pace one led by curiosity rather than expectation.Here, colour, movement, and play become ways of reconnecting with parts of ourselves that are often set aside.In contrast to the systems explored earlier, this room opens space for possibility. There is no right way to engage. No outcome to achieve. Just an opportunity to follow what feels interesting, unfamiliar, or quietly enjoyable.
Emerging research suggests that engaging with colour, creativity, and the arts can support emotional wellbeing, helping to restore a sense of balance, presence, and connection. But beyond this, there is something more instinctive at work something felt rather than explained.Play, in this context, is not trivial. Only left for children. It is a way of reclaiming agency. A way of softening the constant pull toward productivity and performance.Many of us move through the world believing we are not creative. But creativity doesn’t belong to a few it shows up in many forms. In small marks, in colour choices, in the way something is arranged or expressed.Across this space, a range of responses come together different in form, but connected by something shared: a moment of feeling, made visible. Where the earlier rooms hold weight, this one allows for lightness. Where there was containment, here there is expansion.You are invited to interact, create, and contribute in your own way. It may feel unfamiliar at first, but small acts like mark-making, colour, arrangement begin to build into something larger.Nothing needs to be right.Just share what you see, and what you feel.
The mould
We are often handed a shape for who we are supposed to be.
Let me introduce you
Janet Sobel began painting in her forties using her child’s leftover paints at home. She went on to invent a new way of painting that influenced artists like Jackson Pollock.
She started by playing.
You are not too old to begin.
Share your dreams with me
What we imagine alone begins to bloom when we share it.
Art is....
What you see and what you feel.
We all have a little art waiting to be made.
Come try
From play we grow
What we imagine alone begins to bloom when we share it.
Changing shape
We were taught to become one thing, as if life had a final form.
But we are made of many shapes, always shifting.
Changing shape
We were taught to become one thing, as if life had a final form.
But we are made of many shapes, always shifting.
Back to life
Somewhere along the way, “normal” became too much for our nervous systems.This is what it looks like when nothing is being held back and
support is given.
Hang your art with me
Running on Empty isn’t just about looking at art. It is also an invitation to make it.Hang Your Art with Me creates a space for people to step outside the idea that they aren’t creative and simply have a go.People are invited to make their own art and add it alongside the work on display. Again and again, people who say they aren’t creative discover that they are — when they give themselves the time, space and permission to create.It is a reminder that creativity doesn’t disappear when we grow up. Sometimes we just stop making room for it.This is part of what Running on Empty asks us to consider: what happens when we make space to create, play, explore and simply be?
Make space for your community to create
Bring Running on Empty to your town, gallery, workplace or community space and invite people to explore the exhibition — and add their own creativity to it.
Gift Card 5 pack
$25
Sometimes the right words are hard to find.Whether it's a birthday, a thank you, a moment of encouragement, or simply letting someone know you're thinking of them, these cards are designed to create a genuine connection.This pack features selected artworks from the exhibition.Perfect to keep on hand for life's everyday moments, or to gift to someone who appreciates meaningful art and thoughtful stationery.
Pack of 5 cards
Featuring artwork from the Running on Empty exhibition
Blank inside for your own message
Includes envelopes
Printed on premium-quality cardstock
A3 Prints
$60
Bring your favourite artwork home. Choose from a selection of Running on Empty prints, professionally reproduced on premium paper and ready to frame. A beautiful way to enjoy the exhibition long after your visit.
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The power of play
When the body feels safe,
it doesn’t just rest, it comes alive.
We hope you enjoyed your time
Let's keep in touch
Thank you for being part of Running on Empty: The Power Of Play.If a piece spoke to you, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Whether you'd like to share a comment, enquire about purchasing original artwork or prints, discuss hosting the exhibition at your gallery or event, or simply connect, please don't hesitate to get in touch.Your support, conversations, and shared experiences mean the world.