Impressions of our Milieu explores mark-making through lithography and relief printing, where image emerges through pressure, contact and time.

Working from a practice-led research approach, Parker brings together historic limestone printing stones, formed over 150 million years ago, with contemporary substrates including cardboard and plastic. These surfaces are not passive grounds, but active participants, holding and transferring traces of touch, resistance and environment.

Presented within the Fish Lane vitrines, the works remain open to change. Light, heat and atmospheric conditions continue to shape their surfaces across the duration of the installation, extending the act of making into public space. Each work sits between abstraction and record, an imprint of encounter between material, process and place.

The installation functions as a public articulation of PARKER Contemporary’s curatorial philosophy. It demonstrates how print and paper-based practices connect people through shared material understanding, holding conceptual depth while remaining intimate, open and socially legible.

The vitrines operate as thresholds between private research and public encounter, embedding the gallery’s material-led values into the everyday fabric of the Fish Lane precinct.

Emily Parker is the Founder and Director of PARKER Contemporary, Brisbane, and an artist working across print, installation and practice-led research. She is the recipient of the Iain Turnbull Award (2024), and a finalist in the Walyup Fremantle Print Prize and On Paper (Spain). Her work is held in major public collections including the State Library of Queensland and Griffith University Art Museum.

Sunday April 12
Impressions of our Milieu: A Walking & Mark-Making Workshop
11am - 1pm
All materials provided. No experience necessary. Free to attend. Bookings required.

Wednesday April 15
Fish Lane Impressions: Pop-in Make & Create
10am - 12pm
All materials provided. No experience necessary. Free to attend. Drop-in session.

Presented by PARKER Contemporary & facilitated by Emily Parker