Emma Davies is a Naarm/Melbourne-based artist interested in the interactions between commonplace materials, the hand of the maker and the natural world.
Through engaging her materials with simple yet repetitive gestures, Davies embeds more complex value and meaning into otherwise humble materials, transforming baler twine, recycled plastics and netting into sculptural installations suggestive of biomimicry.
Her new series Makers Mark (2025), features in In the Making - Craft’s upcoming exhibition that delves into the intimate interplay between maker, material, and unpredictable processes, running August 9 — September 20, 2025 at Craft Victoria.
CV: How do heritage, memory, and material histories inform your practice?
ED: My own heritage and personal memories influence how I approach making through valuing resourcefulness, repetition, and care in craft processes that have echoes of domestic and communal traditions. Working with agricultural plastics, for instance, draws on the histories of rural and industrial labour. These materials which were originally designed for farming and food production are given a second life in my hands. These common materials carry memory: the marks, stains, and wear in these materials recall their previous uses and the human stories connected to them.
"By transforming humble, familiar materials, I’m also reimagining their place in our shared histories, inviting viewers to reflect on cycles of use, waste, and renewal."
What role does repetition play in the making of your practice?
My practice often centres on repetition, both in technique and in concept. I work primarily with sculptural textiles and installations, frequently using materials like baler twine, recycled plastics, and netting. Repetition shows up in my meticulous processes, visually, it creates intricate patterns and textures, which can echo natural forms like corals, sea urchins, or organic growth.
"This repeated action is integral to my work as it reflects time and labour, showing how a single gesture multiplied over and over can transform humble materials by creating a meditative, almost rhythmic quality, giving my pieces a sense of quiet persistence."
What informs your processes? Did the materiality or process come first, or do they inform each other?
My process of discovery and invention is largely experimental. I satisfy my curiosity by working with industrial materials and rethinking traditional craft methods to challenge the possibilities of each creation. My reward is in removing materials from common functionality, such as packaging, and being able to transform and rework what is intrinsically ugly into something beautiful.
Although materiality came first the process and materiality are deeply interwoven and inform each other. These properties directly shape my making methods. Through repeated handling and experimentation, I have developed an intimate understanding of how these synthetic fibres respond to heat, tension, and weaving which allows me to push their limits, transforming the ordinary into sculptural forms through familiarity with the material.
"The making process is central to the outcome of the artwork. It is through process, repeated actions, experimentation, even accidents that the final form emerges. This repeated action is integral to my work as it reflects time and labour, showing how a single gesture multiplied over and over can transform humble materials by creating a almost rhythmic quality which give my pieces a sense of quiet persistence. "
