An exhibition by Marcos Guzman and Inari Kiuru

Watch this space for updates, and for a virtual version of the exhibition open 24/7 will be collated here in November.

See updates in Instagram: @guzman_artist @ordinari_observer

Browse the complete Radiant Pavilion event program HERE.

Dates: 24 Oct.—08 Nov.

HOURS

Sat. 24 Oct. 12pm—5pm
Sun. 25 Oct. 2pm—5pm
Mon.—Thu. 11am—5pm
Fri.—Sat. 11am—7pm
Sun. 1 Nov. 11am—5pm

ARTIST TALK

Sun. 1 Nov. 5:30–6:30pm > Requires registration here

OPENING

Sun. 25 Oct., 2pm—5pm

ADDRESS

‘The Kingdom Hall’ Close to the corner Daly and Hunter Streets

63B Hunter St,
Brunswick West 3055

Accessibility

Not wheelchair accessible (however assistance can be organised, please get in touch).

‘Look Ma, no hands! Masks, crowns and other ornaments people should wear more often’

A celebration, investigation and a contemporary take on the ancient tradition of wearable, often ceremonial and ritualistic pieces for the head and the neck.

The works range from humorous, playful, fragile and impermanent to the absurd and the dark, referencing the artists’ personal lives, experiences and environment while also imagining different futures through innovative and unexpected form and material use. The makers wish to raise questions about identity and transformative experience through revealing/concealing, and to inspire wearers to play and experiment with their everyday outfits.

Above: Marcos Guzman 2025, Guitar Head mask, Card stock, paper clay, paint, aluminium, stretch cord. Photo by David Gordon.

Right: Inari Kiuru 2026, Vanitas series, Mask, necklace and collar, Pear tree leaves. Photo by Inari Kiuru.

Are you looking, Ma?

by Marcos Guzman

There’s an excitement in sharing a clever trick with those we look up to, and this is the same feeling both Inari and I have exchanged as we worked on this project. Originally we began with the idea of collaborating on cool, serious things imbued with thoughtful design and usable purpose. This was a great idea, though perhaps because we were already pursuing serious things, when the opportunity to embark on something a little more unconventional and lighthearted rolled by we didn’t hesitate to go with it. 

In the beginning of the year a mask making workshop had caught my attention and I felt that this was exactly how I wanted to begin the year and spend the summer. For four weeks, a mixed-bag group of people came together on Saturday mornings to make masks in a crammed, hot space at the back of a toy store in Brunswick. When I told to Inari about my mask making summer her eyes lit up as she shared her long time fascination for the mysterious world of masks and costumes. A few days later she sent a message that proposed we jump onto the chance to be creative with materials and self expression within the realms of masks, crowns and adornment, things that extend from jewellery, from the hand and neck, and into the symbolic. “We can be whoever we want, whatever we want. We can finally be ourselves!” joked Inari. And so this exhibition presents an extension of personalities and creative journeys within the worlds we live in, and our worlds merged like two separate bubbles that magically fused instead of delicately bursting when making contact.

As a teenager, I sometimes grabbed all the fruit from a large bowl on the dining table and stuff it into my pockets. I’d do this in front of my parents or siblings and when I was done I’d say “okay, bye!” and casually walk away with bulging pockets full of apples, lemons and avocados as they stared with amused faces. It was my pointless no hands trick. Admittedly sometimes we felt this project was somehow pointless, but we arrived back again and again to the feeling of joy found in spontaneous and creative freedom. These freeing moments were always our purpose. 

In these times, in this crazy and often dark world, free artistic expression and experimentation are a way for us to decipher and make sense of many things. The resulting answer is not always apparent and it doesn’t need to be, but sometimes you will discover a reason to laugh, catch a glimmer of hope and reveal underlying truths in said artistic expression. Deep within this work there are dreams and realities we both think about and feel, things that bring us joy and things we simply just face. Here are layered translations of ourselves and the things we observe and take in, told through technique and materiality that surprise in their endearingly strange, joyful and still somehow meaningful resolutions.