To be held

7 – 30 November 2019

Mailbox Art Space, Melbourne

To be held plays with the ‘Do not touch’ rule of art where sculpture and installation tempt tactility and intimacy between the object and the viewer. Displayed in Mailbox Art Space are my hand-stitched black leather soft-sculptures which on occasion will be uncaged to hold and touch so that they are truly known as material objects.

I relate to leather as flesh like my own flesh so by re-animating industrialised dead animal skin I suggest my existence as possibly one with the natural world - animal, plant and landscape. All these things can be known by touching it and reversibly they come into being by being touched by the toucher. The corporeal qualities of sculpture allow an encounter with the observed world to be transformed into creatures to engage with tactility and visibly as a substitute holdable object. I am interested in our cultural failure to know ourselves as part of the natural environment and I make comfort devices for this separation anxiety.

Talitha Kennedy, To be held (twig tree) 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, wire and silica gravel, 21 x 8 x 8 cm. Photo by Darren Tanny Tan. — Talitha Kennedy, *To be held (twig tree)* 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, wire and silica gravel, 21 x 8 x 8 cm. Photo by Darren Tanny Tan.

Talitha Kennedy, To be held (Samson stick) 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, silica gravel and lead, 15.5 x 10.5 x 3.5 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan. — Talitha Kennedy, *To be held (Samson stick)* 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, silica gravel and lead, 15.5 x 10.5 x 3.5 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan.

Talitha Kennedy, To be held (clump of grass) 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, wire, silica gravel and lead, 14 x 10.5 x 8.5 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan. — Talitha Kennedy, *To be held (clump of grass)* 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, wire, silica gravel and lead, 14 x 10.5 x 8.5 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan.

Talitha Kennedy, To be held (horn) 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, silica gravel and lead, 19 x 5.5 x 5.5 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan. — Talitha Kennedy, *To be held (horn)* 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, silica gravel and lead, 19 x 5.5 x 5.5 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan.

Talitha Kennedy, To be held (crowned stump) 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, wire, silica gravel and lead, 21 x 8 x 3 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan. — Talitha Kennedy, *To be held (crowned stump)* 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, wire, silica gravel and lead, 21 x 8 x 3 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan.

Talitha Kennedy, To be held (two armed twig) 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, wire, silica gravel and lead, 19 x 4.5 x 4 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan. — Talitha Kennedy, *To be held (two armed twig)* 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, wire, silica gravel and lead, 19 x 4.5 x 4 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan.

Talitha Kennedy, To be held (leaf sprout) 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, silica gravel and lead, 16 x 4 x 4 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan. — Talitha Kennedy, *To be held (leaf sprout)* 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, silica gravel and lead, 16 x 4 x 4 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan.

Talitha Kennedy, To be held (tricep) 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, wire, silica gravel and lead, 20.5 x 7 x 5.5 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan. — Talitha Kennedy, *To be held (tricep)* 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, wire, silica gravel and lead, 20.5 x 7 x 5.5 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan.

Talitha Kennedy, To be held (three finger palm) 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, wire, silica gravel and lead, 19 x 4.5 x 4.3 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan. — Talitha Kennedy, *To be held (three finger palm)* 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, wire, silica gravel and lead, 19 x 4.5 x 4.3 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan.

Talitha Kennedy, To be held (twig tree) 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, wire, silica gravel and lead, 21 x 8 x 8 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan. — Talitha Kennedy, *To be held (twig tree)* 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, wire, silica gravel and lead, 21 x 8 x 8 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan.

Talitha Kennedy, To be held (pandanus) 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, wire, silica gravel and lead, 21 x 6 x 4 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan. — Talitha Kennedy, *To be held (pandanus)* 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, wire, silica gravel and lead, 21 x 6 x 4 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan.

Talitha Kennedy, To be held (sprout wave) 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, wire, silica gravel and lead, 24 x 4.5 x 5 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan. — Talitha Kennedy, *To be held (sprout wave)* 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, wire, silica gravel and lead, 24 x 4.5 x 5 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan.

Talitha Kennedy, To be held (finger clump) 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, wire, silica gravel and lead, 24 x 8 x 7 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan. — Talitha Kennedy, *To be held (finger clump)* 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, wire, silica gravel and lead, 24 x 8 x 7 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan.

Talitha Kennedy, To be held (doll hand) 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, wire, silica gravel and lead, 17 x 7 x 5.5 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan. — Talitha Kennedy, *To be held (doll hand)* 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, wire, silica gravel and lead, 17 x 7 x 5.5 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan.

Talitha Kennedy, To be held (windmill) 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, wire, silica gravel and lead, 20 x 4 x 10 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan. — Talitha Kennedy, *To be held (windmill)* 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, wire, silica gravel and lead, 20 x 4 x 10 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan.

Talitha Kennedy, To be held (antennae) 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, wire, silica gravel and lead, 21.5 x 7 x 7.5 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan. — Talitha Kennedy, *To be held (antennae)* 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, wire, silica gravel and lead, 21.5 x 7 x 7.5 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan.

Talitha Kennedy, To be held (vagina twig) 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, wire, silica gravel and lead, 16.5 x 5.5 x 5 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan. — Talitha Kennedy, *To be held (vagina twig)* 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, wire, silica gravel and lead, 16.5 x 5.5 x 5 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan.

Talitha Kennedy, To be held (tree hollow) 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, wire, silica gravel and lead, 21 x 11 x 4 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan. — Talitha Kennedy, *To be held (tree hollow)* 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, wire, silica gravel and lead, 21 x 11 x 4 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan.

Talitha Kennedy, To be held (fister) 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, wire, silica gravel and lead, 20 x 8 x 7 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan. — Talitha Kennedy, *To be held (fister)* 2019, leather, thread, polyester fibre, wire, silica gravel and lead, 20 x 8 x 7 cm. Photograph by Darren Tanny Tan.