Biography:
Sarah Duyshart is a drawing, sound, and installation artist based in Melbourne and London. She graduated with an MA in Sculpture from the Royal College of Art (RCA) in 2019, an Honours degree (First Class) from the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), University of Melbourne, in 2013, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in 2008.
Duyshart’s work is currently touring the UK as a finalist in Drawing Projects UK’s Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize (2024). Her work was also a finalist in the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize (2023) and the Maritime Art Prize in Melbourne (2023).
Solo exhibitions include Sonic Sensibilities, Winter Architecture, Melbourne (2025); Charcoal & Stone Scape Studies, Shopfront_342, DiMase Architects, Melbourne (2024); Drawing Architectural Sound Studies 1, Winter Architecture, Melbourne (2024); Recent Drawings, Langford 120, Melbourne (2018); Transmit, Strange Neighbour, Melbourne (2014); and Sift, Counihan Gallery, Melbourne (2013).
Selected group exhibitions include RAFT, ROSL Arts, London (2025); Thinking Graphite, Drawing Projects UK, Trowbridge (2019); Standing Water, RAW Labs & Bow Arts, London (2019); MA Exhibition, RCA, London (2019); On Drawing, CUHK, Hong Kong (2018); and Summer Drawing Marathon, New York Studio School, New York (2015).
Duyshart has received numerous awards, including the Ann & Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship (2016), the Rae & Edith Bennett Travelling Scholarship (2017), the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) Award for Shift (2013), the Rome Art Program Scholarship (2011), and the Visual Arts Award at the Melbourne Fringe Festival (2009).
Statement:
Sarah Duyshart’s spatial practice combines the practice of mark making and sound to create large immersive site-responsive architectural interventions. Originating in her drawings and practice of listening, Duyshart explores the intimate relationship between body and architecture.
Installations to date include two tonne of flour sifting through suspended sieves in sync with the vibration of soundscapes composed of architectural field-recordings, over one hundred hand-turned pulleys recti-linearly coursing one kilometre of ‘line’ through floors, foundations and rafters of industrial buildings, and several metre humming columns of several hundred vibrating wires piercing into and out through rooms beyond head-height.
Coming from a family of architects, Duyshart grew immersed in tracing-paper, experiencing the transformation of her father’s maquettes and sketches as she climbed through building timber frames. This birthed her current preoccupation with architectural plans, including those of archaeological ruins in desert landscapes, many of which she has walked through during her travels.
Drawing as gesture, has piqued Duyshart’s interest in the methodologies of contemporary dance choreography, extending her research into the language of diagrams. Her practice is informed by broad bodies of knowledge including cellular-biology, atmospheric science, theatre set design, anthropology etc. Duyshart is currently exploring concepts around drawing (future) archaeo-acoustics.