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Melbourne Artists Team Up During Lockdown for Virtual Instagram Exhibition ‘Seeing You, Seeing Me.’

The online exhibition features local visual and audio artists, along with collaborative filters being released intermittently throughout the duration of the show.

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Weekly updates


Seeing You, Seeing Me is a group exhibition celebrating the dispersal and incongruity of ideas, concepts, objects and peoples, hosted on Instagram. It runs via Instagram from September 23 until October 30 and features 7 local visual and audio artists including Aki Yaguchi, DocG, Lotte FrancesBrigid Stafford (aka Stripey), Elle Shimada, ItgelJa_Keepitmoving and Isaiah Morris (Curator).

Creating an ever-expanding body of works for the duration of the show, it features 7 visual + audio artists, along with collaborative filters being released intermittently in the individual artists profile. Check out the statement from curator Isaiah Morris below;

The notion of identity within contemporary culture is being shifted, the ‘tip of the iceberg’ has been disrupted, and we are now sifting through history, the positive and negative, rhetorical and allegorical. Our worlds have suddenly become solely online, crystal-clear identities formed via our social feeds, the virtue we signal and the content we consume. Yet we cannot even identify ourselves when we look in the mirror.

I miss seeing you, and you seeing me. The way your face alights when my vernacular alludes to something humorous or romantic. Oh so spectacular.

Seeing You, Seeing Me’ is a contemporary group exhibition, situated within the virtual realm. Where physics, the traditional gallery environment, and human-to-human connection are seemingly irrelevant. How we engage with both artist and works are questioned. Do we at the very least accept to discuss certain aspects of culture for the benefit of common ground? Or are we just engaged in a one-sided conversation…

I aim to see you, will you aim to see me?– Isaiah Morris (Curator)

To celebrate the launch of the exhibition, we caught up with a few of the artists involved below.
Check out the exhibition here. (Mobile Only)

01. Aki Yaguchi

How’re you finding ways to be creative in lockdown?
I’m using my creative time as downtime, so it’s really easy for me to do, I can find any excuse to create. For me, that’s a bonus because not only am I using it as a way to de-stress but I am being productive too. Having work shown digitally is so new to me, and yet it feels so right! I love the idea that we as creative aren’t restricted to physical space and can adapt to our circumstances.

What’s it like having work shown in the digital space compared to physical?
Of course, a physical space is ideal, however, I feel this is the beginning of a new way to have shows accessible to people around the world, and I am definitely going to implement this in future.

Did you approach this show differently compared to others?
To be honest not really. Although the space is entirely different, there isn’t much different about creating work for an online exhibition apart from the obvious fact that the artwork must be digitised.

Follow Aki Yaguchi here.

02. Itgel

How’re you finding ways to be creative in lockdown?
I’ve started to doodle a lot more often than usual. So I guess that has been creative. Although, drawing is more meditative than creative for me.

What’s it like having work shown in the digital space compared to physical?
It’s quite exciting. I like the idea that it’s so easily accessible to anyone. Since everyone’s been confined to their concrete walls for the past couple of months, it’s great to have an exhibition like this that can briefly transform your living space into an art gallery.

Did you approach this show differently compared to others?
Yeah, As opposed to having already made art being shown at a show I made those two artworks based on the brief that was given to me.

Follow Itgel here.

03. Lotte Frances

How’re you finding ways to be creative in lockdown?
I think I’ve found the lockdown has actually enhanced my creativity, like I have no distractions, I’m not going to the pub every night, instead, I’m home drawing.

Making work though has definitely been a survival technique through all of this! I’ve also noticed my work being influenced by elements of lockdown, like my paintings have aspects and aesthetics of games I’ve been playing in lockdown!

What’s it like having work shown in the digital space compared to physical?
Honestly, it’s quite weird but very exciting! It’s very thrilling that you can enter the space from anywhere in the world!

Did you approach this show differently compared to others?
Yes and no! I still make the same paintings that I would if it was shown in a physical gallery. I guess with this show there is a high emphasis on the quality of the photo and getting the right image. So it’s really an image of an image, which isn’t bad just different, I think this show is really setting the pace for a new kind of gallery and visual experience!

Follow Lotte Frances here.

04. Brigid Stafford (aka Stripey)

How’re you finding ways to be creative in lockdown?
It’s definitely been tricky! At the beginning, I felt a lot of pressure to use this time to be super productive, and create constantly. I have tried to take that pressure off myself, and not force it. If I have something to work towards like a commission or an exhibition, I find it a lot easier. I think I work well under the pressure of someone relying on me. Lockdown has made that tricky, but luckily Isaiah created this amazing exhibition, which helped me to engage in creativity and creative people again!

What’s it like having work shown in the digital space compared to physical?
It’s really different! There’s usually a lot of planning and scoping of the physical space you’re exhibiting in, and practical challenges like measurement and how each artwork will hang on the walls etc. Obviously, that wasn’t an issue in the digital space Isaiah created. Of course, the social element of getting together with lots of people and all checking out amazing work together is something I miss from physical exhibitions. I think that digital shows are amazing though, I especially love that it makes art a lot more accessible for people with different time-schedules, locations, commitments, abilities, health complications etc. It would be great to keep it going in some way, post-lockdown!

Did you approach this show differently compared to others?
Definitely! I feel like most of it was up to Isaiah, he really made it all come together in the most amazing way! Honestly, it’s like magic what he does! I provided some art and he did the rest! He’s a creative superstar.

Follow Stripey here.