Light Moves
Szilvia György, Chris Packer & Liz Shreeve
13 May - 6 June
Opening Event: Wed 20 May, 6pm-8pm
“Light is not so much something that reveals, as it is itself the revelation.”
— James Turrell
The importance of light to human life is seen in its use as a metaphor or symbol for the life force, enlightenment, spirituality or faith. In this exhibition, rather than it serving as metaphor for or symbol of something else, light is presented as integral, the subject itself to be experienced directly.
To encourage this engagement, the artists harness shadow, light transmission and reflected colour using simple materials: paper, canvas, cotton tape, porcelain and string. Further activated by the movement of the viewer and the interplay with each other, the works seek to highlight the difference between looking and seeing. The viewer is urged to take delight in the wonder that is light, and perhaps to deepen this contemplation beyond the visual, to awareness itself.
Off the Shelf, Chris Packer, 237 x 92 x 10cm,
acrylic on cotton tape, mdf support.
Image courtsery of the artist.
Exhibiting Artists
LIFE AND BEYOND BRUNO VALENTE
13 May - 6 June
Opening Event: Wed 20 May, 6pm-8pm
Life and Beyond brings together two parallel forces within Bruno Valente’s practice. “Life” reflects what is directly observed and experienced, drawing from landscapes, beaches, and natural elements that ground the work in the physical world. In contrast, “Beyond” moves into less tangible territory, exploring imagined realms, symbolism, energy, and dream-like states that resist clear definition. Together, these works shift between the familiar and the unknown, where moments of stillness and recognition are interrupted by fragments that feel distant, surreal, or unresolved. Rather than offering a fixed interpretation, the exhibition invites viewers into a space that sits between reality and something harder to grasp, where meaning is felt more than explained, and where each work becomes part of an ongoing conversation with the unseen.
UNTAPPED POTENTIAL, Bruno Valente, Acrylic on Canvas, 140 x 110cm, 2025
About the Artist
Based in Sydney, Bruno Valente is an emerging painter whose practice explores the psychological and existential space between life and what lies beyond it. Working primarily in acrylic alongside sketches and works on paper, his process is driven by intuition, with ideas often unfolding organically as a way of processing internal energy and intensity.
Valente’s work resists clear interpretation, favouring ambiguity, symbolism, and emotional tension. His practice is centred around having a conversation with the soul. Figures, spaces, and landscapes appear suspended in unfamiliar states, reflecting a deep curiosity about consciousness, isolation, and the unseen forces that shape human experience.
His practice is less about providing answers and more about confronting uncertainty. Both his paintings and sketches act as extensions of the same inquiry, where meaning is discovered rather than imposed.
Water's Awakening
Clara Chiu
13 May - 6 June
Opening Event: Wed 20 May, 6pm-8pm
Clara Chiu’s body of work is focused on water, capturing how water in motion redefines form and questions our perception of the physical world. Clara’s practice is an intimate study of water’s natural rhythms. Using her camera as a meditative tool, she explores the resonant connection between the viewer and the fluid landscape. Her work captures the subtleties of waterfronts, the ripples, reflections, and shifting tones that often go unnoticed. By focusing on these everyday details, Clara transforms transient moments into striking visual stories, inviting the audience to find extraordinary beauty in the familiar.
The pieces in Water’s Awakening blend imagination with reality. Clara’s intuitive approach captures a spontaneous, yet reflective energy, while her intentional editing process reveals hidden messages and emotional depth. In The Universe Cheering, light bouncing off a yacht’s hull is reimagined as a symphony of clouds, recasting the waterline into the shoreline of a long-awaited breakthrough. Through her lens, a river’s movement is reimagined as Meandering Trees, and the light caught on the surface becomes Water in Flames. Printed with a painterly sensitivity on archival rag paper, these abstract compositions blur the line between photography and painting, encouraging the viewer to look beyond the literal.
Beyond their visual appeal, these works are rooted in a journey of healing and renewal. Clara sees her creative process as a pursuit of clarity, a way to find meaning amidst the noise of everyday life. Her pieces in Water’s Awakening offer a sanctuary for contemplation and emotional connection. This display is an invitation to pause, breathe, and witness the evocative quality and the fleeting forms of water.
About the Artist
Clara Chiu is a Hong Konger-Australian fine art photographer now based in Sydney, Australia. Born in Hong Kong during its Belle Époque, a vibrant time of glamour and optimism shaped by both Eastern and Western influences, she moved to Sydney’s Lower North Shore in early childhood, where she developed a deep appreciation of coastal beauty and the subtleties of nature. Her Australian education fostered her innate affinity with visual art. Clara worked for many years as a financial services lawyer, initially in Sydney and then in Hong Kong. She returned to Sydney with her family in 2022.
From a young age, Clara was mentored in photography by her father, an experienced photographer. Some of her earliest memories are of helping him set up his tripod, holding the light meter, and sometimes even posing for his portraits. The father and daughter often went on photography trips together, where they would quietly take in their surroundings, sometimes engaging in a playful competition as they captured and shared their perspectives. Clara’s father was a man of few words, but through photography, they connected in ways words could not express.
The death of her father in early 2024 profoundly shaped her perspective and strengthened her connection to the medium. One day, whilst she was still very much grieving, she started taking photos of the shifting forms and patterns of water near the Art Gallery of New South Wales. This marked the beginning of her water photography and current business, Jōzen Art.
Living on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, with its waterfronts and seascapes, Clara captures nature’s fluid, ever-changing essence with a bold and intentional style. Her images seek to evoke healing and connection, blurring the line between reality and abstraction. Through reflections, ripples, and shifting light, she explores water as a metaphor for memory, transformation, and the passage of time, each piece imbued with resilience, freedom, and hope.
Beyond her personal practice, Clara Chiu contributes to the arts community through exhibitions and charitable work. She raised funds as a portrait photographer for the Hong Kong Cancer Fund in 2021; she began exhibiting at the Greenwich Village Arts Trail since 2024. Her work Sunset in Miyazaki was selected as Finalist for the SOHO Art Prize 2025. She is the winner of the Emerging Artist Prize of the inaugural Lifeline Art Show North Sydney (2025) for her work Meandering Trees, and her work Meditation by Sand and Water was selected as Finalist at the same event.
The Universe Cheering, Clara Chiu, Original giclée photographic print on archival Hahnemühle Museum Etching paper, 350gsm, 103 × 146 cm (including 8 cm border), Edition of 10
Meandering Trees below, Clara Chiu, Original giclée photographic print on archival Hahnemülhle Museum Etching paper 350gsm,
110 X 110 cm (including 5 border), Edition of 10
