Things I Carried Quietly

Things I Carried Quietly by Nani Puspasari reflects on the unseen emotions tied to migration, cultural transition, and remembering the places once called home. Drawing from her Chinese-Indonesian background and life in Australia, Nani brings together hand-built ceramics, paintings, and drawings that are shaped by her fragmented childhood memories.

Playful, tender, and poetic, the works reimagine hybrid fruits, altered household objects, forgotten toys, shy animals, and figurative forms. Arranged in loose constellations, they suggest closeness without resolution, tracing the subtle imprints of belonging and displacement.

The exhibition also includes Objects Once Held, a participatory project inviting visitors to contribute drawings or writing about meaningful objects, creating a shared display of memory and connection within Merri-bek’s diverse communities.