Lisa Kelly and Sarah Youngberry first met in 2021 while teaching in the arts faculty of a secondary school in Queensland, Australia. Lisa is a highly experienced teacher and fierce advocate for arts education. Her artwork incorporates images swapped with Sarah, including a shadowy face behind a wire screen, a monotone red portrait of a young woman from an article about climate change, and a Vogue fashion model posed in a headstand.

In The Bear Every Time, Lisa reworks these images and adds her own to reference a viral meme that circulated widely online in late 2024. In the post-#MeToo environment, the hypothetical question asking women whether they would rather be alone in the woods with a bear or a man they did not know brought issues of sexual violence, harassment and women's safety into everyday conversation. Lisa's artwork draws on personal experiences, the experiences of loved ones, and the relentless reporting of men murdering intimate partners in Australia. Her proximity to social media culture as a secondary teacher and mother of a teenage daughter is sharpened by a combination of fury, fatigue and deep concern for the women in her life, the young women she teaches, and women more broadly.

In response, Lisa swapped vibrant images of fashion, architecture and art with Sarah, reflecting their shared interest in colour, form and the arts. Sarah's artwork, Watched/Watching, uses only a selection of images gifted by Lisa. Female nude figures are woven through spiralling architectural steps that frame the composition. Beginning without a fixed concept, the process of cutting and splicing these figures while reflecting on Lisa's artwork prompted questions about the woman in the original image. Had she stolen a private moment? Was she smoking in secret? Who was telling her what she could or could not do? Why did she seem comfortable in one moment and cautious in the next? Was she at ease, or performing?

Extending Lisa's exploration of the bear question, Sarah's artwork meditates on the ways women keep themselves safe, even when alone. In our homes, we draw the curtains, lock the doors, close the windows at night and check who is outside. Are they looking in? We avoid renting ground-floor apartments to live alone and text to say we arrived home safely. Through Watched/Watching, a concept emerged around how women’s public facing confidence and indifference, and quieter moments of private life, are shaped by the need to manage visibility and safety at all times. Drawing on Sarah's own experiences and those of loved ones, the work reflects unwanted attention, sexual harassment and violence, while also wondering (and welcoming) when she, like many older women in her life have promised, will become "invisible" to the male gaze.