a revised, condensed installation of CLICK HERE to be saved!, featuring a new product pitch and a windows-screen-of-death heavenscape.

let's go to space! was created for a public project at enlighten canberra, 2026. the video comprises archival footage from and about the mt stromlo observatory – from tv advertisements to telescope captures. this work pokes fun at the commodified, conquest-driven rhetoric of space travel, and instead honours the observatory’s opposing ethos: a site of collective research and discovery, to make the cosmos an accessible experience for all.

in our world of tech schemes and ai weirdness, my honours thesis is an installation staging a glance into a speculative future: it showcases a corporate marketing campaign for a gateway to "heaven". this work investigates how the emergence of new technologies (such as ai) has created new forms of intimacy and spiritualism in the wake of a new technological paradigm. the installation intends to provoke reflection on the predatory tactics of the tech sphere, such as flimsy "promises" and disclosure demands, alongside our willingness to engage with new forms of artificial intimacy if we reap personal benefits.

as a cynical expression of our immersion in the digital landscape, i found god (on my computer) references a current cultural attitude of reverence towards technology, likening it to the way that the divine and spiritual might be treated. what bliss do we find in the digital? in our tech-saturated world, is that what we would call heaven?

transmission was created for a public project at enlighten canberra, 2025. it is a playful take on the nature of conspiracy in astronomy, and the relationship between science and scepticism. using mt stromlo's observational data, the work emulates an infomercial to illustrate how manipulation and supersititon might be generated in the global climate, with references to conspiracies of the past.

engaging with a rapidly developing technological world means tracking how realities are formed, how virtual spaces interact with the real world, and how digital content often blurs the line between what is meaningful and meaningless. this artwork is a study on the experience of being oversaturated and overstimulated with content of no real value. the work is a split-screen display between a central video and a margin that is vying for attention. the margin is the core of the work, a distraction to the central frame, that intentionally tries to capture the viewer’s focus. it intends to pry open our vulnerability to distractions, to expose where our attention spans take us, and our inability to resist. sometimes, instead of consuming media, media consumes us.

this artwork captures the psychological weight of having an obsessive condition. being compelled to scour your own flesh for ailments is where psychological anxieties become physical compulsions, often without warning or reason. my hypochondria often manifests as insomnia. the rumpled sheet stresses the restlessness of thinking and overthinking (and often trying to avoid thinking, as if the mere thought will jinx me) about illnesses and the fragility of the human body. there is also a certain finality about being wrapped in cloth; having a similar resting place in both life and death is an ironic thought. it makes my head hurt.

✦ 4 june 2026 - photoaccess view2026, canberra

✦ 2026 - anca eass exhibition, canberra
✦ 2026 - a 13.8 billion year adventure, enlighten canberra public project
✦ 2025 - grad show, anu exhibition, canberra
✦ 2025 - enlighten the skies: stories of the universe, enlighten canberra public project
✦ 2023 - grad show, anu exhibition, canberra
✦ 2023 - exquisite corpse, anu exhibition, canberra

hello! welcome to my art archive. i am an artist based on ngunnawal land, canberra.

email ✦ elesa.kali@gmail.com
instagram ✦ @ekali.art

i am a recent graduate from the australian national university, with a double degree in visual arts (honours) and arts (philosophy, political science).

✦ 2025 - first class honours
✦ 2025 - anu peter & lena karmel anniversary prize
✦ 2025 - anca exhibition award