'EDGEWORK brings together the work of Meanjin (Brisbane)-based artists Emily Devers and Jo Isabel Klima, whose individual practices investigate visual thresholds — the elusive spaces where boundaries dissolve and definition propagates in unexpected ways. Through their distinct yet complementary approaches, this exhibition of small works invites viewers to consider how we navigate the intersections of subject and space within an image, and the role of light and material in the definition of edges.


Emily Devers’ work examines the overlooked encounters that shape our experience of public and private spaces. As a commercial mural artist and brand designer, Emily possesses a nuanced understanding of how images influence perception. However, her art practice diverges from the distillation of graphics, instead opening her up to the freedom of the expansive picture plane. She’s particularly interested in using the backgrounds of found images, or the “non-image”, to divide and organise space in her painted compositions, and reappropriating public art materials into an institutional art setting. 


Jo Isabel Klima’s practice reflects a fascination with the inherent qualities of light, and how this can be explored through materials like plexiglass and glass — focusing on their ability to transform light, shift perception, and evoke emotional resonance. Jo’s works embrace transparency, colour, pattern, diffusion and reflection to navigate the thresholds between presence and absence. Her practice celebrates the quiet value of everyday observations, transforming them into luminous moments that straddle the line between natural and architectural forms.


Together, they’ve employed common graphic devices such as the grid, and shared material resources to create personal and collaborative artworks as an opportunity to define the edges of where their individual practices may coalesce. Each artwork in EDGEWORK presents slippages between various boundaries — where light, materials and images shift, overlap, and transform. Together, Emily and Jo have created a series of artworks as small moments of potential, sparking contemplation around how we interpret and experience the spaces we occupy.