artist CV
lily tsuruko tucker
@septeverest
@septeverest
Tucker (b. 2004) is an artist living and working on Gadigal land. As a third-year student at SCA, their practice is currently focused upon experimenting with metal, wood, and textiles. Tucker’s overall interest in temporal impressions and re-ordering a chaotic world is reflected in the vulnerable yet calculated nature of their works, attempting to deconstruct processes of scientification and alienation which delimit nature’s fluid existence.
education
Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney
Bachelor of Visual Arts, Major in Anthropology
2023–2026
Bachelor of Visual Arts, Major in Anthropology
2023–2026
group shows
USU Creative Awards Finalists, Verge Gallery, 2025
Ephemera – Unpacking the Schaeffer Library Archives, Curator, The Power Institute, 2025
Love, Death, and What Remains, Backspace Gallery, 2025
Forging Futures, Backspace Gallery, 2025
Monument, Backspace Gallery, 2025
The Internal, Goodspace Gallery, 2024
USU Creative Awards Finalists, Verge Gallery, 2024
Yours Sincerely, Goodspace Gallery, 2024
News from Home, Goodspace Gallery, 2024
House of Unicorns, Redbase Gallery, 2024
Love Deluxe, Backspace Gallery, 2024
USU Creative Awards Finalists, Verge Gallery, 2023
An Anthology of Video and Time-Based Works, Backspace Gallery, 2023
Verge Projects, Manning Bar, 2023
Ephemera – Unpacking the Schaeffer Library Archives, Curator, The Power Institute, 2025
Love, Death, and What Remains, Backspace Gallery, 2025
Forging Futures, Backspace Gallery, 2025
Monument, Backspace Gallery, 2025
The Internal, Goodspace Gallery, 2024
USU Creative Awards Finalists, Verge Gallery, 2024
Yours Sincerely, Goodspace Gallery, 2024
News from Home, Goodspace Gallery, 2024
House of Unicorns, Redbase Gallery, 2024
Love Deluxe, Backspace Gallery, 2024
USU Creative Awards Finalists, Verge Gallery, 2023
An Anthology of Video and Time-Based Works, Backspace Gallery, 2023
Verge Projects, Manning Bar, 2023
publications
Students’ ways of seeing
by Victoria Gillespie
Honi Soit
2024
A declaration of love for SCASS’s love Deluxe
by Hannah Vlies Lawrence,
Honi Soit
2024
by Victoria Gillespie
Honi Soit
2024
A declaration of love for SCASS’s love Deluxe
by Hannah Vlies Lawrence,
Honi Soit
2024
guest seminars
2022–2025
VITULA_SUITE
2025
Oak, steel, cello rosin, refurbished chair
Approx. 60 x 60 x 150
Old Teacher’s College, SCA; Verge Gallery
2025
Oak, steel, cello rosin, refurbished chair
Approx. 60 x 60 x 150
Old Teacher’s College, SCA; Verge Gallery
Tucker's sculptural series ‘VITULA_SUITE’ initiates an exploration into the spiral's enigmatic existence as both a universal constant
and an act of reinvention. Each piece has been carved from wood in an appreciation for the material's inherent cyclical history
of growth and decay, its cells always toeing the line between life and death. In mimicking the form of the ammonite fossil, with cello
rosin carefully set into its wooden chambers, ‘AMMONOIDEA_COLOPHONIUM’ commemorates a passion that is no longer acted
upon yet has not quite passed on. The floating scroll form of ‘VOLUTA_ SOLUS’ further contemplates a yearning promise to a
younger self that does not need to be fulfilled—a space simply desiring to be remembered as a potential for more, tucked away
in the back of one's older mind.
The suite will ultimately become part of Tucker’s extended macro-series ‘DENDRITE_ARCHAEOPARTY’, with individual works
and interactions between works to be selectively curated for the SCA grad show.
VOLUTA_SOLUS (2025)
AMMONOIDEA_COLOPHONIUM II (2025)
Photo: Linnea Jiawen Long
Photo: Linnea Jiawen Long
AMMONOIDEA_COLOPHONIUM I
2025
Oak, cello rosin, steel
Approx. 13 × 12 × 4.5 cm
Backspace Gallery
Tucker's sculptural work 'AMMONOIDEA COLOPHONIUM' initiates an exploration into the spiral's enigmatic existence as
both a universal constant and an act of reinvention. The piece has been carved from wood out of an appreciation for the
material's inherent cyclical history of growth and decay, its cells always toeing the line between life and death. In mimicking the
form of the ammonite fossil, with cello rosin carefully set into its wooden chambers, the work commemorates a passion that is no longer
acted upon yet has not quite passed on. A yearning promise to a younger self that does not need to be fulfilled but simply
remembered as a potential for more, tucked away in the back of one's older mind.
2025
Oak, cello rosin, steel
Approx. 13 × 12 × 4.5 cm
Backspace Gallery
Tucker's sculptural work 'AMMONOIDEA COLOPHONIUM' initiates an exploration into the spiral's enigmatic existence as
both a universal constant and an act of reinvention. The piece has been carved from wood out of an appreciation for the
material's inherent cyclical history of growth and decay, its cells always toeing the line between life and death. In mimicking the
form of the ammonite fossil, with cello rosin carefully set into its wooden chambers, the work commemorates a passion that is no longer
acted upon yet has not quite passed on. A yearning promise to a younger self that does not need to be fulfilled but simply
remembered as a potential for more, tucked away in the back of one's older mind.
ORCHADIA
2024
Zincanneal, copper wire, and recycled steel
Approx. 90 × 70 cm
Old Teacher’s College, SCA
2024
Zincanneal, copper wire, and recycled steel
Approx. 90 × 70 cm
Old Teacher’s College, SCA
RHIZOME. ROOTSTALKS. CHLOROPHYLL. MOLLUSK. TUBER. ORCHIDACEAE. LITHOPHYTE. DENDROBIUM. PLEUROTHALLIS.
AMARYLLIS. PHALAENOPSIS. VELAMEN. SYNAPOMORPHIES. RESPUNATION. SYMPODIAL. PSEUDOBULBS. HETEROBLASTIC.
COTYLEDON. MERISTEMS. HYPOGEAL. CATASETUM. EPIPHYTE. DENDROPHYLAX LINDENII.
SEEKING PATTERNS AND CHANCE ENCOUNTERS WITH ORDER.
AMARYLLIS. PHALAENOPSIS. VELAMEN. SYNAPOMORPHIES. RESPUNATION. SYMPODIAL. PSEUDOBULBS. HETEROBLASTIC.
COTYLEDON. MERISTEMS. HYPOGEAL. CATASETUM. EPIPHYTE. DENDROPHYLAX LINDENII.
SEEKING PATTERNS AND CHANCE ENCOUNTERS WITH ORDER.
Photo: Linnea Jiawen Long
Photo: Linnea Jiawen Long
my boudoir is not sex. i have sex in my boudoir
2024
Embroidered cheesecloth, white enamel paint and walnut varnish on hand carved mdf
Approx. 210 x 110 cm
Old Teacher’s College, SCA; Backspace Gallery
In an examination of the psycho-social connotations of physical spaces within the home, 'my boudoir is not sex. i have sex in my boudoir'
interrogates the pervasive belief in the boudoir's delineation as an inherently erotic and frivolous feminine space. Rooms and their objects
have been frequently anthropomorphised as direct synecdoches of human memories, feelings, and experiences. By satirising the boudoir's
most common public associations as 'erotic', 'for sulking', 'frivolous', and 'artificial', I use fragmented rococo motifs in wood and textiles to
reveal the boudoir in its true capacity as a private space for not only pleasure and emotional release, but also for relaxation, leisure, socialising,
and decoration.
2024
Embroidered cheesecloth, white enamel paint and walnut varnish on hand carved mdf
Approx. 210 x 110 cm
Old Teacher’s College, SCA; Backspace Gallery
In an examination of the psycho-social connotations of physical spaces within the home, 'my boudoir is not sex. i have sex in my boudoir'
interrogates the pervasive belief in the boudoir's delineation as an inherently erotic and frivolous feminine space. Rooms and their objects
have been frequently anthropomorphised as direct synecdoches of human memories, feelings, and experiences. By satirising the boudoir's
most common public associations as 'erotic', 'for sulking', 'frivolous', and 'artificial', I use fragmented rococo motifs in wood and textiles to
reveal the boudoir in its true capacity as a private space for not only pleasure and emotional release, but also for relaxation, leisure, socialising,
and decoration.
valerie i
2024
Ribbon, thread, recycled bamboo
Variable, approx. 110 x 80 cm
Goodspace Gallery
2024
Ribbon, thread, recycled bamboo
Variable, approx. 110 x 80 cm
Goodspace Gallery
they say you were blonde when you were a kid.
I'm not sure how that could be true
but everyone still remembers you by it.
you've always worn your hair short.
I couldn't believe when you finally let it go grey.
we share a middle name.
you share it with your grandmother too.
I've sat next to you for hours playing games on our Nintendo DS's.
criminal minds, animal planet, and treehouse masters reruns.
puzzles on a low laying table in your living room.
afternoons at the dog park.
you used to make leis out of ribbon. I'm learning now too.
I'm going to show you this work at christmas.
how many more ways can I try to be like you
I'm not sure how that could be true
but everyone still remembers you by it.
you've always worn your hair short.
I couldn't believe when you finally let it go grey.
we share a middle name.
you share it with your grandmother too.
I've sat next to you for hours playing games on our Nintendo DS's.
criminal minds, animal planet, and treehouse masters reruns.
puzzles on a low laying table in your living room.
afternoons at the dog park.
you used to make leis out of ribbon. I'm learning now too.
I'm going to show you this work at christmas.
how many more ways can I try to be like you
litha i
2024
Beads, thread, woven cloth, linen, needle
Variable, mask approx. 25 x 25 cm
Goodspace Gallery
Photo: Mikayla Kitto
I thought the earth remembered me, she
took me back so tenderly, arranging
her dark skirts, her pockets
full of lichens and seeds. I slept
as never before, a stone
on the riverbed, nothing
between me and the white fire of the stars
but my thoughts, and they floated
light as moths among the branches
of the perfect trees. All night
I heard the small kingdoms breathing
around me, the insects, and the birds
who do their work in the darkness. All night
I rose and fell, as if in water, grappling
with a luminous doom. By morning
I had vanished at least a dozen times
into something better.
— Mary Oliver, ‘Sleeping in the Forest’
2024
Beads, thread, woven cloth, linen, needle
Variable, mask approx. 25 x 25 cm
Goodspace Gallery
Photo: Mikayla Kitto
I thought the earth remembered me, she
took me back so tenderly, arranging
her dark skirts, her pockets
full of lichens and seeds. I slept
as never before, a stone
on the riverbed, nothing
between me and the white fire of the stars
but my thoughts, and they floated
light as moths among the branches
of the perfect trees. All night
I heard the small kingdoms breathing
around me, the insects, and the birds
who do their work in the darkness. All night
I rose and fell, as if in water, grappling
with a luminous doom. By morning
I had vanished at least a dozen times
into something better.
— Mary Oliver, ‘Sleeping in the Forest’
little colorado
2024
5:1 soundscape with light projection and old sheets
2:14, installation variable
Old Teacher’s College, SCA
2024
5:1 soundscape with light projection and old sheets
2:14, installation variable
Old Teacher’s College, SCA
the medium of love as videos and long distance calls.
filling the space of this old pillow fort with digital wisps.
a little colorado filled with light.
a little colorado i know you're not inside.
filling the space of this old pillow fort with digital wisps.
a little colorado filled with light.
a little colorado i know you're not inside.
(Excerpt from installation)
Walking Piece
2024
JVC 40x optical zoom video camera
3:01
Old Teacher’s College, SCA
2024
JVC 40x optical zoom video camera
3:01
Old Teacher’s College, SCA
After Yayoi Kusama’s 1966 photographic series ‘Walking Piece’.
abstract (psychopomp)
2024
Hand-sewn recycled furs, stuffing, popcorn kernels, nail polish, mulch, coins
30 x 30 x 15 cm
Backspace Gallery; Verge Gallery
When I was in second grade, my teacher (who was definitely a sadist) told the 'animal lovers' in the class to read the book 'Where the Red Fern Grows'.
Spoilers ahead but in the end of the book, one of the dogs is killed by a mountain lion and its partner lies on its grave until it too dies (the grave
being where the titular red fern grows). At that age, all I knew is that I was sad not one, but two dogs died at the end of this book. But eventually,
the uniqueness of the feeling that book evoked became more obvious to me as I heard about similar scenarios. Lovers and families lying together, remains
immortalised in the dust of Pompeii. Prehistoric creatures curled up together as the world ended.
It became clear to me that there was something more here than words as general as 'love', 'sadness', or 'grief' could fully encompass. Even now, my deeming
of this particular feeling as 'devotion' or 'loyalty' still falls short of capturing the truth complexity and depth of it. It's that type of love where you are so
devoted to someone, where you hold so much love for them that you have no choice but to stay by their side. In sickness and in health and all that.
2024
Hand-sewn recycled furs, stuffing, popcorn kernels, nail polish, mulch, coins
30 x 30 x 15 cm
Backspace Gallery; Verge Gallery
When I was in second grade, my teacher (who was definitely a sadist) told the 'animal lovers' in the class to read the book 'Where the Red Fern Grows'.
Spoilers ahead but in the end of the book, one of the dogs is killed by a mountain lion and its partner lies on its grave until it too dies (the grave
being where the titular red fern grows). At that age, all I knew is that I was sad not one, but two dogs died at the end of this book. But eventually,
the uniqueness of the feeling that book evoked became more obvious to me as I heard about similar scenarios. Lovers and families lying together, remains
immortalised in the dust of Pompeii. Prehistoric creatures curled up together as the world ended.
It became clear to me that there was something more here than words as general as 'love', 'sadness', or 'grief' could fully encompass. Even now, my deeming
of this particular feeling as 'devotion' or 'loyalty' still falls short of capturing the truth complexity and depth of it. It's that type of love where you are so
devoted to someone, where you hold so much love for them that you have no choice but to stay by their side. In sickness and in health and all that.
written all over your face
2024
Ink on latex, twine, gloves, borrow fabric, paper, buttons
Variable, face book (closed) approx 20 x 20 cm
Goodspace Gallery
2024
Ink on latex, twine, gloves, borrow fabric, paper, buttons
Variable, face book (closed) approx 20 x 20 cm
Goodspace Gallery
Passing by hundreds of people everyday on the street can make it easy for everyone’s faces to blur together in the background of your own busy life, leaving you with only the barest impressions of every stranger as they go about their routines.
Building upon their previous explorations into identity and human connection, Tucker examines the innate humanity that runs through every city using the medium of latex in their latest interactive work. The structural uniformity of the faces directly juxtaposes the personal nature of the entries written upon the letters behind them, offering both fleeting impressions and deeper confessions of individual’s lives on either side of their ‘page’.
Tucker welcomes all viewers to don some gloves and flip through the carefully-crafted book of faces, stories, and disclosures before them, hoping above all else that even when feeling utterly alone that viewers can feel comfort in the simple fact that we all live in the same time and space together, no matter how separate our lives may seem.
Building upon their previous explorations into identity and human connection, Tucker examines the innate humanity that runs through every city using the medium of latex in their latest interactive work. The structural uniformity of the faces directly juxtaposes the personal nature of the entries written upon the letters behind them, offering both fleeting impressions and deeper confessions of individual’s lives on either side of their ‘page’.
Tucker welcomes all viewers to don some gloves and flip through the carefully-crafted book of faces, stories, and disclosures before them, hoping above all else that even when feeling utterly alone that viewers can feel comfort in the simple fact that we all live in the same time and space together, no matter how separate our lives may seem.
uproot/reroot
2023
Video projection
4:29
Old Teacher’s College, SCA
2023
Video projection
4:29
Old Teacher’s College, SCA
Inspired by a childhood memory of feeling an intense sense of non-belonging while digging up tarot roots for hours in
a muddy field in Hawaii, ‘uproot/reroot’ functions as a more literal means of validating Tucker’s experiences with
dislocation. While viewing the three-channel video and sound installation which documents various points in their
twenty minute endurance performance of digging up and re-burying a ginger root, the viewer becomes immersed
within the repetitive motions of the task Tucker has assigned to themself. Within the dark space of the work’s
installation, the layered sounds of soil being shifted and hands hitting the earth transform the room into the
cavernous space of the underground—the only source of light being the projections on the wall before them. Staring
up into the blazing sun from the camera’s vantage point within the hole, the audience finds themselves moving
between the dialectics of scorching exposure and suffocating darkness as they too become uprooted and rerooted
over and over again.
a muddy field in Hawaii, ‘uproot/reroot’ functions as a more literal means of validating Tucker’s experiences with
dislocation. While viewing the three-channel video and sound installation which documents various points in their
twenty minute endurance performance of digging up and re-burying a ginger root, the viewer becomes immersed
within the repetitive motions of the task Tucker has assigned to themself. Within the dark space of the work’s
installation, the layered sounds of soil being shifted and hands hitting the earth transform the room into the
cavernous space of the underground—the only source of light being the projections on the wall before them. Staring
up into the blazing sun from the camera’s vantage point within the hole, the audience finds themselves moving
between the dialectics of scorching exposure and suffocating darkness as they too become uprooted and rerooted
over and over again.
confessions in the dark (brought to light)
2023
Stereo soundscape with visual component
3:35
Old Teacher’s College, SCA (2023); Redbase Gallery (2024)
In pursuing their desire to create works which cultivate honest relationships between artist and audience, “confessions in the dark (brought to light)” functions as an open sign of Tucker’s readiness for emotional vulnerability and an ode to the personal development they have undergone over the past few years. The subtly shifting visual component of the work pulses with nigh imperceptibility and acts as a grounding point for the viewer to better enable focus upon the work’s audial aspect. Tucker has created a rich hybrid soundscape which combines recordings from their diary entries, incidental sound bytes they have taken over the years, and an atmospheric composition created solely with digital instrumentation.
The work’s progression from dark to light, visually and conceptually, is a testament to the journey which Tucker has been on both as an individual and an artist. This work is dedicated to those in their life who have contributed to the creation of a space where Tucker can now be vulnerable and explore themselves more deeply within their artistic practice.
2023
Stereo soundscape with visual component
3:35
Old Teacher’s College, SCA (2023); Redbase Gallery (2024)
In pursuing their desire to create works which cultivate honest relationships between artist and audience, “confessions in the dark (brought to light)” functions as an open sign of Tucker’s readiness for emotional vulnerability and an ode to the personal development they have undergone over the past few years. The subtly shifting visual component of the work pulses with nigh imperceptibility and acts as a grounding point for the viewer to better enable focus upon the work’s audial aspect. Tucker has created a rich hybrid soundscape which combines recordings from their diary entries, incidental sound bytes they have taken over the years, and an atmospheric composition created solely with digital instrumentation.
The work’s progression from dark to light, visually and conceptually, is a testament to the journey which Tucker has been on both as an individual and an artist. This work is dedicated to those in their life who have contributed to the creation of a space where Tucker can now be vulnerable and explore themselves more deeply within their artistic practice.
pearl fish (no) girl
2023
Performance with headpiece made from recycled cardboard
Variable, approx. 3:10
Old Teacher’s College, SCA
2023
Performance with headpiece made from recycled cardboard
Variable, approx. 3:10
Old Teacher’s College, SCA
Always caught in the ‘in between’, Tucker plays within liminal spaces
which exist at the intersection of the natural world and the surreal.
‘pearl fish (no) girl’ is a work which blurs the boundary between
land and sea, interrogating the power relationships involved in harvest
and production.
This durational multi-sensory performance piece surrealises the
commensal sharing of pearls between the mouths of human and fish
in a solemn ritual which only reaches its conclusion when neither party
has anything left to give. Tucker’s appreciation for marine lifeforms
and long-term fascination with hand-crafted pearl pieces are paramount
in the work’s conception, reflected in its delicate and ephemeral aesthetics
which transport the viewer to another realm.
which exist at the intersection of the natural world and the surreal.
‘pearl fish (no) girl’ is a work which blurs the boundary between
land and sea, interrogating the power relationships involved in harvest
and production.
This durational multi-sensory performance piece surrealises the
commensal sharing of pearls between the mouths of human and fish
in a solemn ritual which only reaches its conclusion when neither party
has anything left to give. Tucker’s appreciation for marine lifeforms
and long-term fascination with hand-crafted pearl pieces are paramount
in the work’s conception, reflected in its delicate and ephemeral aesthetics
which transport the viewer to another realm.
NORMAL FEMALE
2022
Digital print
59.4 x 44.5 cm
Verge Gallery (2023); Redbase Gallery (2024)
2022
Digital print
59.4 x 44.5 cm
Verge Gallery (2023); Redbase Gallery (2024)
This digitally-edited photographic piece breaks down the human form into its most fundamental aspect: chromosomes.
Modelled after a ‘normal female’ karyotype, Tucker takes the place of chromosomes in this print to question how we rationalise
our gender identities, particularly when strict gender binaries force us to simplify our complex existences.
Modelled after a ‘normal female’ karyotype, Tucker takes the place of chromosomes in this print to question how we rationalise
our gender identities, particularly when strict gender binaries force us to simplify our complex existences.
Prepare A Face
2022
Latex, acrylic paint, chalk, clothespins, and twine
Variable, each face approx. 19 x 21 cm
2022
Latex, acrylic paint, chalk, clothespins, and twine
Variable, each face approx. 19 x 21 cm
Mycrocosm
2022
Found glass vessel, sticks, thread, beads, aquarium sand, plastic crystals, wires, shells
Approx. 45 x 17 cm
2022
Found glass vessel, sticks, thread, beads, aquarium sand, plastic crystals, wires, shells
Approx. 45 x 17 cm