Theatre Of The Grotesque No. 2: Borehole

Tapestry is ready to hang, attached to wooden batten with a traditional wire hanger.

FINALIST - Heallreaf 3 art prize, UK

I created 'Theatre Of The Grotesque No. 2 - Borehole' using vintage medical imagery as a metaphor for society, which appears open-minded, but is wanting us to conform to the status quo. The practice of trepanning could suggest the brainwashing of the masses by government and media.

We tend to view 'barbaric' practices of the past with horror, but we are living in a grotesque world of our own, in which those who live outside the norm are vilified. This piece is part of a series that represents my life as a misfit, and asks the viewer to challenge their preconceived ideas about what is ‘normal’.

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Michelle Driver is a South Australian artist working exclusively in handwoven tapestry. Her practice is grounded in slow labour, repetition, and material discipline, approaching tapestry as a rigorous studio practice rather than a decorative craft.

Her work is shaped by queerness, neurodiversity, and lived experience of trauma, and often draws on gothic aesthetics and unsettling narrative. Through weaving, she explores shadow, memory, and the tension between obedience and refusal, revealing beauty within what is overlooked or difficult to name.

Driver’s work has been recognised nationally, including winning the 2016 Port Pirie Art Prize and inclusion in Radical Textiles at the Art Gallery of South Australia.