Who we are
Summary
- Access Lab & Library is a project of Fayen d’Evie and Jon Tjhia
- Fayen is an artist, writer, publisher and academic
- She has had fluctuating vision for her whole life, which has fuelled her creative research into blindness
- She has exhibited widely around the world
- She teaches at RMIT and runs a publishing project called 3-ply
- Jon is an artist, writer and editor
- He likes to collaborate and experiment, and to help others to do those things
- He teaches at RMIT, and is part of various independent projects
- Access Lab & Library also works with a network of friends and collaborators, and we value their expertise
Fayen d’Evie
Fayen is an artist, writer, publisher and academic. A lifetime of fluctuating vision spurred Fayen’s creative research into blindness as a critical and imaginative position. For over a decade, Fayen has been dedicated to exploring experimental, disability-led art practice, curation, writing and design. Her projects are often collaborative, inviting audiences into sensorial encounters with artworks and texts. She has exhibited at museums and galleries, and within biennales and festivals, across Australia and worldwide.
Fayen has published and presented widely on access-led and access-infused creative practice, and on the potential of blindness to liberate ocularcentric artistic and curatorial practice. She has also provided creative provocations and programming guidance to art institutions nationally and internationally, interested in pursuing more inclusive structures and more ambitious curation of disability-led practice.
Fayen is currently a lecturer in the Master of Communication Design programme of RMIT University, teaching experimental typography, curatorial and exhibition design, and studios grounded in access and transformative pedagogies. She is the founder of independent imprint 3-ply, which approaches publishing as an experimental site for the creation, dispersal, and archiving of texts.
Jon Tjhia
Jon is an artist, writer and editor working through radio and podcast, literature, photomedia, music and publishing. An award-winning radiomaker and award-losing writer, his recent work is published by BBC Radio 3/4, Un Magazine, LIMINAL, the Powerhouse, Avantwhatever and WFMU.
Alongside his art and editorial projects, Jon extensive experience as a digital and technical producer underwrites his interest in facilitating exchanges and encounters between ideas and people.
Jon is a prolific collaborator and initiator with a chronic interest in communication, experimentation and perspective. He’s a member of Access Lab & Library and the Manus Recording Project Collective, and a co-founder of Paper Radio. He teaches Intersensory Digital Publishing and Composing Sound Spatially at RMIT University, and is widely disrespected as a musician.
Creative network
We are constantly in conversation with D/deaf and disabled artists, writers, architects, designers, technicians, and creative allies committed to access-led and access-infused practice. We value our co-conspiratorial relationships with this network. Through creative exchanges, collaborative projects, and guest workshops, we have shaped opportunities to share skills and perspectives, and experiment together with new forms and methods of access. Our more complex projects will often be delivered by engaging additional expertise from this expanded creative and consultative network.