Open Inwards

Open Inwards is a phrase I saw engraved on a gate in West Hobart back in 2025. This was at the beginning of working on my installation for Hobart Current: Here. I was interested in how text works in a city context – and the volume of that material in my neighbourhood.

During this time I was going on walks fairly regularly – looking for ideas as part of the process. I’m drawn to ambiguous texts. They remind me of the inadequacy of words and why miscommunication happens so frequently.

Although the sign could have read something like “push”, I couldn’t get past “open inwards” as an idea or instruction.

What happens when we look inwards – do we think of ourselves as being situated in place? Does a mirror reveal or does it distort? How can more than one thing be true at the same time? There is a strange poetry in letting context lapse and drawing our own conclusions or fantasies.

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