Four years after winning a prize that included an exhibition in central Bendigo, Kelsey Macdonald has unveiled her work.
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Then a second-year visual arts student, Macdonald has now finished her degree with her exhibition a neat endpoint on her time at La Trobe University Bendigo.
"It feels really good (to have it up)," she said. "It was really exciting when my course coordinator said 'do you want to do your exhibition? The space has come up again'."
Macdonald created the new exhibition - Companion - and is on display at Exhibit B in the Bendigo Bank Central building until September 18.
Companion explores the theme of loneliness caused by illness and social isolation - something many experienced during the coronavirus lockdowns.
It features three photographs of Macdonald and her brother as well as two creatures that are designed as surrogate companions.
"My younger brother and I are very close but during COVID I think a lot of people felt very isolated from their family," she said. "Everyone was in different places, isolating themselves, so it's kind of just about reconnecting with people.
"It wasn't so much about the pandemic, it was because I was so interested in how everyone was trying to find their way back to the relationships they had before."
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Macdonald said she wouldn't have had the confidence to put on her exhibition without the support of her teachers.
"They helped me put on the exhibition and a tech from the uni came and helped me set it all up," she said. "I never felt confident enough to put on an exhibition without having learnt from them." Coming from a creative family, Macdonald fell in love with Bendigo when she interviewed for her place at La Trobe.
"When I came for an interview at the university here (in Bendigo) it was almost on a whim," she said. "(But) I fell in love with the city immediately.
"I studied art in high school and I did a couple of classes at Melbourne Uni in painting and other stuff. I just loved the whole culture of it all and I just loved making things.
"I loved painting and there were so many things I wanted to learn and explore from amazing artists who have decided to become lecturers or teachers."
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