MUNDARING Arts Centre will be exhibiting Paper Thin, Skin Deep which features nine emerging, mid-career and established female artists interrogating the materials and metaphorical layers of skin through paper and sculpture.

Drawing on diverse cultural perspectives and disciplines, Emma Craig, Jo Darvall, Stephanie De Biasi, Sharyn Egan, Robyn Jean, Annette Peterson, Emily Rose, Nicole Steenhof and Sarah Thornton-Smith present a study of surface, body and memory, reflecting on how even the most delicate materials can hold, record and reveal human experience.

Through the processes of folding, casting, stitching and layering, paper becomes a material that records pressure, time and gesture, while sculptural forms address themes of trauma, tenderness, memory, transformation and identity.

The artworks challenge the notion that surface is merely skin-deep.

Cuts, creases and impressions echo the ways bodies hold histories, inviting reflection on how we inhabit self, materials and memories.

In complement, another exhibition titled CMYK brings together five printmakers working across woodblock printing, etching, stencil embossing, cyanotype and screen-printing.

Featuring Shanti Gelmi, Erin Kilbane, Antony Muia, Matt Perrin and Kristy Scaddan, the exhibition celebrates the art of print as both a disciplined craft and a site of experimentation, revealing the alchemy and diversity of ink, chemistry and process on paper.

Through bold and subtle lines, bleeding colour, layering and the interplay between positive and negative space, the artists transform the surface of paper, creating depth, mood and form.

Named after the foundational print colours Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key (Black), CMYK reflects the constraints inherent in working on a flat, two-dimensional surface.

Rather than limiting expression, these boundaries provide a framework for experimentation, whilst the ability to re-do, make copies and repeat, offer the artists a freedom to play, and allow the medium to become a collaborator in the process.

Together, these exhibitions offer audiences an immersive encounter with paper as a site of material investigation, both conceptually and practically.

Surface, colour and form reveal stories of process and experimentation.

Paper holds presence, it transforms, conveys depth and catalogues memory, transcending beyond its humble and often fragile state beyond surface interpretations.

Paper Thin, Skin Deep and CMYK are on display at Mundaring Arts Centre from January 25 to March 22.

For further information and Public Program details, visit the website mundaringartscentre.com.au