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This work is a print interpretation of the performance-based artwork Beached as Bro..… (I love you). In the performance, the artist lies inside the clear plexiglass belly of a handmade seven metre shark, nicknamed Sweetie Pie. The shark’s skin, like that of the artist, is biodegradable, bumpy, raw, imperfect and real, linking the shark’s body to that of the artist who created it and is now found inside of the shark.
For this edition of the performance, Sweetie Pie was placed near Canberra’s Lake Burley Griffin, with a view of the Australian War Memorial in the background. This placement grounds the work within local, national and global politics, and also pays homage to Canberra Contemporary’s present lakeside location and its reputation as the heart of contemporary art within the ACT.
The title of the artwork Beached as bro..… (I love you) references famous Beach Boys songs with the inclusion of the song “Don’t worry baby” in the performance. The work also takes inspiration from the Australian comic Sean McFarland and his words voicing a New Zealand beached whale….. but with the artist’s own twist.
This artwork was created as part of the Next Wave Kickstarter program.
Sophie Dumaresq is an interdisciplinary artist who brings perspectives of queerness, absurdity and humour through automata and materiality. Working across photography, video installation, sculpture, and performance. Dumaresq explores what it means to share and communicate in a universe filled with beings whose brains, existences, and bodies are inherently different from your own. She was recently selected to participate in the Clitheroe Foundation Emerging Sculptor Mentorship Program as part of her inclusion in the 2025 Sculpture by the Sea, Sydney. Her work Stardust, a handmade robot using recycled ocean plastics and space junk, is currently part of Emergence, Experimenta’s national tour of media arts.