Spectral Dialogues explores the layered histories and fragile ecologies of Glen Davis, a ruined shale oil mining town in the Capertee Valley on Wiradjuri Country. Through sound, sculpture, and material installation, the exhibition activates the ruin as a space for reflection, dialogue, and regeneration, expanding architectural practice into the realms of sound, art-making, and ecology to propose an alternative, embodied politics of understanding place.
Drawing on the concept of Hauntology, the gallery becomes a living archive where layered sonic environments invite acts of “earwitnessing,” surfacing what is unheard, unseen, or forgotten. The exhibition reflects on the conditions that create these spectres - colonial violence, labour struggles, displacement, and ecological degradation, revealing how lost voices and vanished species continue to resonate in the present. It encourages audiences to respond with attunement to the silences that shape the contours of place, shaping how we understand contested landscapes and their entangled pasts, presents, and possible futures.
Exhibition by Katie Taylor, Poppy Duwenbeck & Harry Levey
Exhibition support and printing: Rewind Photo Lab
Special thanks to: Mary Thirlwall, Graeme Pike and The Glen Davis community
Tin Sheds Gallery acknowledges the Gadigal of the Eora Nation, upon whose ancestral lands our exhibitions take place. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge of these lands, waterways and Country.
Top Image: The Forgotten Town, 2024, Katie Taylor
Spectral Dialogues Workshop
Join the artists behind Spectral Dialogues for a hands-on workshop exploring memory, place, and material craft. The session opens with a guided walk-through of the exhibition, followed by an introduction to cyanotype printmaking—a light-sensitive photographic process that uses chemical emulsion to expose gathered plants and archival negatives, leaving ghostly blue silhouettes. Afterwards, you will explore small-scale weaving using fibre, plant matter, and cardboard looms, offering a simple, low-tech way to learn the basics of warp and weft without needing complex setup or equipment. You'll leave with two handmade pieces: a cyanotype print and a woven piece.
Workshops have capacity for between 10-15 participants. It is anticipated that workshops will run for between 2-3 hours.
Dates:
Image by Katie Taylor, Poppy Duwenbeck (2026)
Phone: (02) 9351 3115
Email: tin.sheds@sydney.edu.au
Address: 148 City Road, Darlington Sydney, NSW
