An immersive installation created by LEWIS
Experience an immersive installation created specifically for Obsidian Bide: Art Gallery & Studio and the Bribie Island Nature Festival. Inspired by the island’s shifting coastline, weathered materials, and stories carried by the sea, the exhibition transforms the gallery into a shelter made from found and reclaimed objects collected during an artist residency on the island.

The installation reimagines the grotto and the idea of the nomad, or wandering hermit. This connects to local history and figures such as artist Ian Fairweather, who famously lived in self-made shelters built from bark, timber, and salvaged materials in the island’s dunes. Built from found objects, washed-up debris, natural materials, and industrial items gathered during the residency, the grotto is intentionally wild and imperfect - as though it has emerged from the sand itself rather than been carefully constructed.

Part shelter, part shrine, the work explores our uneasy relationship with the natural world and asks audiences to reflect on what happens when the environment we depend on begins to push back.