Billie Parsons is an Australian artist that has returned to Naarm after 20 years of living and studying interstate and overseas. The plains of West Texas hosted her most recent research, earning a Masters of Fine Arts. Billie’s practice is posited in the periphery, where detritus is central, where shapes, shadows and echoes collide. A theatrical influence comes from a past professional career, providing a diverse material knowledge, and a unique way of thinking about the construction and function of objects and elements and the practicality or impracticality of the object in time and space.

      In Billie’s practice, disabilities are represented abstractly through disparate materials such as casting alloys and animal intestine, and there is a focus on using recyclable and recycled materials, giving another layer of code to the visual dialogue. Billie’s practice is expressed through a variety of cultural frequencies that can be characterised as inherent, acquired and associative. This flows through their visual arts practice, which is grounded in community investment and engagement, periodically crossing and merging. Having built a large and diverse skillset, Billie, along with two partners, started and runs the North Preston Lifesaving Club,(NPLC), a studio and exhibition space that celebrates and engages work from marginalised people.