Michelle Culpitt
Exhibition Dates :
Saturday 28 February – Saturday 7 March 2026
Monday – Friday 9am – 5:30pm
Saturday 9am – 4pm
Sunday CLOSED
Her X mark is about the traces left by women and the places we haunt, both historically and today. An exhibition of works made using sustainable photographic processes that date back to the 1840s.
In the 19th century women who were incarcerated during the transportation period left their mark as a signature, a tattoo, an engraving and a story. To use a pencil, write a letter or make a mark on a cell wall meant severe punishment, as recorded in the Punishment Book, digitised and transcribed by volunteers at the Cascades Female Factory. In the same period, men often applied to marry their convicted servants, and the record of her agreement was often signed with a cross: Her X mark.
Photo media works in the exhibition are hand made by experimenting with the photosensitivity of plants. Culpitt harvests weeds and introduced species to mix light sensitive emulsion to make ephemeral and fugitive photographic prints exposed in the sun over hours or days.
Anthotypes (flower prints) allow her to capture the essence of a site through local plants, sun and weather conditions in a sustainable and mindful way. The study of the process has bought her into contact with women scientists across the centuries, from Anna Atkins who made the first book of photography in 1843, Mary Somerville who was one of the inventors of the Anthotype process in Scotland in the 1840s, to Australian scientist Heather Adamson and her research on the photosensitivity of plants, research that significantly contributed to the understanding of Antarctic plant physiology in mosses and lichens through her field work in Antarctica in the late 1980s.
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Her X mark – An exhibition of photo-media works and works in progress dedicated to women making marks and leaving their mark.
28 February – 8 March 2026 at the Sidespace Gallery – Salamanca Arts Centre, nipuluna / Hobart.
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Anthotype process demonstration (free) in the Lightbox on Saturday 28 February at 11am and a hands on workshop of sustainable, plant based anthotypes on International Women’s Day Sunday 8 March at 9:00am.
Email art@michelleculpitt.com or leave a message on 0439 616 013 for bookings and information
Original one off photographic works are available for sale a price list will be available at www.michelleculpitt.com
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50% of sales will be donated to the Hobart Women’s Shelter and their essential work to provide safety, dignity and a path forward for women and children escaping domestic violence and housing stress
Accessibility
Accessible Toilets (Level 1 + Ground Floor : The Courtyard)
Registered Assistance Animals welcome
Wheelchair Accessible (via Lift in The Courtyard)
