4 February – 1 March 2020
Born in France, Sofie Dieu engages with underrepresented communities to develop her multimedia projects. Her art lies at the intersection of womanhood, healing and spirituality. Through textile and poetry workshops, Sofie gathers Australians' narratives. In the bush, she performs these personal stories and records them through photography and video. She later edits and paints these digital works in her Melbourne studio. Sofie is an award finalist having been included in John Leslie Art Prize, Hornsby Art Prize, Sydney North Art Prize and Ravenswood Australian Women’s Art Prize, among others.
Website: www.sofie-dieu.com
Instagram: @sofiedieu
Image: Sofie Dieu at work during her residency, Carss Park. Image courtesy of Hurstville Museum & Gallery
During her residency, Sofie facilitated an ink workshop where participants were introduced to the to the main principles of ink painting and learnt the central role of water to compose a balanced abstract artwork. Under her expert guidance, participants explored a series of techniques to represent water and interpret its movement, reflection and energy flow; and experimented with layering effects to create light and darkness.

Image: Participants taking part in the Abstract ink workshop with Sofie Dieu. Image courtesy of Hurstville Museum & Gallery
Museum at Home: Get inspired by Sofie’s work by doing your own ink painting at home. You can watch Sofie’s how-to video here.
Sofie took some time to answer some questions about her residency and her artistic practice:
Is this the first residency you have undertaken?
It is indeed, in New South Wales, though in total it is the fifth one I have been invited to. I have been to residencies in Victoria and France otherwise.
Why did you decide to apply for this Carss Park residency?
I was immediately drawn by the location of the residency. For the last year and a half, I have been exploring water in my art. Being able to work for a month by the Georges River was very appealing as I was able to observe its different states, at different moments of the day, under various weather conditions. In the morning, I would wake up just before sunrise and would cross Carss Park, sit on a rock and look at the river waking up. I also documented it throughout the day, and evening at sunset.
What also convinced me to apply to the residency was to be able to live and work from the same place. Having everything provided, receiving the amazing support from the fabulous Council team was a blessing and financially relieving.
As I am Community driven, being able to share my practice with local residents at Hurstville Museum & Gallery was also attractive. Sharing my work from conception to exhibition is a big part of what I do.
Would you recommend this or other residencies to other artists?
I would definitely recommend this residency to other artists (and I already have!). Each residency has its own qualities and as far as I am concerned, it is good to mix it up a little. It opens up your horizon, in some cases you work with other artists and get to form friendship. With the Carss Park residency, as I was on my own, I used this opportunity to dive in my work and solely focus on it, with no distraction at all. This is a rare privilege, I made the most out of it.
What did you see as being one of the highlights of this residency?
Carss Park residency has the perfect balance between natural environment, city facility ease of reach, the sea shore close by. The cottage is well set up and very comfortable. I’d love to have the same amount of studio space back in Melbourne, with the same quality of light and view on the river!
The highlight for me was being by the river and going on long walks at any time of the day and night. These were special moments. I would load up with inspiration and creativity and go straight back to the studio and pour it all on paper… how precious!