Looking for a new kind of connection this Valentine’s Day? The Changing Room Gallery in Carlton invites you to VisualAudio Fest, a group exhibition celebrating the vibrant relationship between sound and visual art.
Opening this Saturday, February 14, the Carlton-based event hosted by Vortex Volume brings together over twenty-five local artists working across painting, photography, illustration, and digital media, each exploring music as both muse and medium.
Among the featured Melbourne and Naarm-based artists, creativity pulses through every considered work.
VisualAudio Fest in Carlton
- Opening night: Saturday, February 14, 6pm to 11pm
- Where: Changing Room Gallery upstairs at the Motley Bauhaus
- Tickets here
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
View this post on Instagram
Jess Angwin examines gender and belonging through layered, screen-printed imagery that feels both intimate and bold, while Riley Magras paints abstract and surreal works inspired by the shapes and symbolism of the natural world. Pushing beyond the boundaries of form, Kramas, a Naarm visual artist and music group, explores the duality of reality and dream with animation and paintings.
With oils and pastels, Jordan Stanfield captures the energy of live music performances with celestial scenes that shimmer with emotion, and Helena Marina Guina, a Melbourne-born painter and muralist, reimagines familiar cityscapes through a haze of memory and surreal color.
Themes of identity, nostalgia, and connection continue across the show. Rose Zhang pieces together collage and mixed-media compositions that explore belonging with sensitivity and vibrancy, while Bethany Mitchell, a Naarm-based illustrator and designer, infuses her work with a sense of psychedelia and playful lyricism. Brookie Wilton, a Naarm-based photographer, finds quiet power in monochrome, documenting intimate live-music moments on black-and-white film.
John Diederick Kinsman bridges physical and digital practice, turning the emotional pulse of live performance into visual form. Hannah Ogawa, a Naarm new-media artist and electronic musician, navigates between sound and vision to explore cybernetics, femininity, and memory, while Benjamin Colbourne creates immersive video installations that blend queer identity with experimental sound.
The exhibition also celebrates the lyrical and the personal.
Tuesday Wilson, a Naarm photographer, focuses their lens on queer joy and intimacy within the local music scene. Eloise Bullard channels rhythm and emotion through atmospheric oil paintings alive with color and movement.
Closing the lineup, Sophie Nguyen connects music and painting as collaborative expressions of self, crafting works that unify two creative worlds.
Other featured visual artists include Claudia Thorp, Jacob Canet-Gibson, Phoebe Faye, Cindy Cal, Stella Sui, CASHMAN, Antonio Besas, Francine Besas, and Natasha Angelucci-Deacon, each bringing their own unique visual style and creative energy to the showcase.
Opening night will feature not only visual works born from rhythm, melody, and collaboration but also live performances by Melbourne alt-rock band B-sides, known for their emotional edge and immersive sound; Naarm’s Ingrid and the Ministers, a “swampy” punk-blues group bringing raw, magnetic energy; Ruby Fraser, pop-rock singer and guitarist for The After, whose heartfelt vocals and infectious hooks light up the stage; and American musician Evan Crouse, adding his signature funk sound to the lineup.
This is the second instalment of VisualAudio Fest, created and independently organised by Francine Besas, founder of Vortex Volume, a Melbourne-based creative agency that champions the hard work and originality of Australian and Kiwi artists and musicians. Besas ensures that artists and bands take home as much of the event’s proceeds as possible, keeping the focus on supporting local creativity.
Since this year’s fest falls on Valentine’s Day, participating artists were encouraged to embrace the spirit of love in all its forms, whether romantic, platonic, or collaborative. The result is an exhibition that celebrates connection through colour, texture, and sound.
The exhibition runs through February 21. The Motley Bauhaus is fundraising for an elevator to make the space more accessible. While ticket sales directly support participating artists, anyone who donates directly to the venue will receive a limited-edition risograph poster co-created by featured artist, Bethany Mitchell, as thanks.
Celebrate Valentine’s Day surrounded by art, music, and community, and experience the powerful connection between the visual and the sonic at VisualAudio Fest.
For more information, head here.
