Work in Development — Research & Creation

Holding the Line is a multidisciplinary performance and installation work exploring the hidden emotional labour of frontline workers supporting women affected by sexual and gendered violence across homelessness and justice systems. While public attention often centres on victim‑survivors, the cumulative toll on the workforce remains largely unseen. This project makes that holding visible, audible, and felt.

Developed by a NSW‑based team of artists, the work uses sound, movement, repetition, and durational form to translate trauma exposure into embodied experience. Working metaphorically rather than representationally, the project examines cycles of crisis, emotional saturation, and fragile resilience within structurally strained systems.

Testimony, where included, is de‑identified, ethically sourced, and shaped collaboratively with sector participants. The work invites audiences to recognise unseen care labour and to understand that resilience requires structural support, not individual endurance.

Lead Artists: Michelle St Anne
Sector Advisors: Vanessa Dumbrell & Camille Kersley