Visitors are invited to create 3D cubist works and explore tactile, abstract shapes through interactive bronze reliefs, drawing systems, and spatial installations. The exhibition encourages children and adults to co-create, learn, and play together.

“This is real art that both children and adults can engage with,” Dr Mestrom said. “It’s a playful adventure that's equally educational – I tested many of these ideas in my son’s primary school art class. The kids showed me how they learn, through movement, touch, and curiosity, and their feedback shaped the final exhibition. It’s powerful, reciprocal learning.”

Dr Mestrom has a long tradition of incorporating play into her artwork. She uses interactive, large-scale and functional sculptures, from skating installations to children’s playgrounds, to question the physical and social aspects of urban design. Her research investigates ways that art in public places has the potential to create spaces for intergenerational play.

“I make sculptures that people can move through and interact with, because I want art to feel like part of everyday life, not something distant or untouchable,” she said. “When we play with art, we start to see the world differently. It’s a way to break out of the usual rules and routines, and that kind of freedom can be quietly powerful, even political.”

Dr Mestrom's exhibition is the outcome of a four-year Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards (DECRA) research project and an example of research translation and commercialisation in the arts. Her broader research into playful environments and inclusive spaces has influenced urban policy and generated $1.7 million in research income, demonstrating the civic and commercial value of her work to the wider public.

The exhibition also contributes to the NGA’s Know My Name initiative, which aims to address the gender imbalance and increase the representation and visibility of women artists in Australian art collections. Through her work, Dr Mestrom is actively challenging audiences to rethink how the female body is represented and experienced.

“This is about loosening the grip of hierarchy and ownership in art,” said Dr Mestrom. “My work is inclusive, it’s playable, and it’s about making space for new ways of seeing and being in spaces accessible by all.”

SCA students played a vital role in bringing the exhibition to life, gaining hands-on, professional experience in the arts industry while studying. PhD student Nadia Odlum was the research assistant on Dr Mestrom’s DECRA project, where they contributed to the creation of the sculptures in the exhibition.

“Working on this project has given me a greater understanding of how to bridge theory and practice,” Odlum said. “I've worked with architects, urbanists, sociologists and educators, giving me a new understanding of the importance of play in art.

“This exhibition shows how arts-based research has a powerful ability to translate academic insights into objects and experiences, that themselves produce opportunities for new knowledge.”

Emerging artist Bronte Cormican Jones, recent graduate of a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours) at SCA, has been working with Dr Mestrom as an artist’s assistant throughout her degree, and helped with the exhibition’s installation at the NGA.

“Witnessing Sanné’s vision take form in the early stages of a project right through to the final execution has greatly shaped my own process and taught me so much about what it means to be an artist, to have great ambition and drive, to challenge yourself, to problem solve and to make art that matters," said Jones.

The SCA is home to leading artists and educators. Dr Mestrom and Dr Madeleine Kelly, senior lecturer and undergraduate curriculum coordinator at the SCA, are finalists in the 2025 Wynne and Archibald Prizes respectively, and both the sitter Justene Williams and artist Julie Fragar of this year’s Archibald winner are SCA alumni.

The Whole is Greater than the Sum of Her Parts is on display at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra until 21 September 2025.

Hero photo: copyright Kerrie Brewer, published by the University of Sydney with permission.