The residency is on site at the Central Institute of Technology, wherein thrives a wonderfully supportive art school for those preparing to study at tertiary level, right in the heart of a cluster of cultural identities that include the Art Gallery of Western Australia, the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, the State Library, Theatre and State Museum.

I am forever thankful for this impromptu studio residency, where I was fortunate to make Difficult art decisions: The Blue Pattern, Measuring the missing, Background, and Corner — all of which were exhibited at the inaugural Sydney Contemporary Art Fair later that year, in September.

It was also wonderful to meet Yuhsin U Chang, the international artist who took up residency at the time, whose tentative ventures into Perth’s vast space — the width of an everyday footpath, for instance, and distance travelled from one door to the next compared to Taipei’s — delivered observations of delight to witness.

The residency concluded on 16 August 2013 with an artists talk I gave to students studying art. The talk turned into an unexpected pleasure given the challenging sparks of interest and engagement I encountered from the students during question time.

Gail Hastings, 2013