Hello! I'm Scarlet Sykes Hesterman, I'm a Naarm /Melbourne based artist, animator and storyteller currently living and working on the stolen lands of the Wurundjeri People. My interest and love for native ecology and nature informs my practice, and I engage people and communities through art, film and narratives. I work in a range of digital and analogue techniques, combining traditional art methods with emerging technologies, including hand drawn illustration, watercolour, collage, 2D animation, stop-motion animation, video, paper construction, installation, mural and Augmented Reality (AR).
I found my love for drawing and stories from a young age, through pictures books, cinema and art galleries. I am influenced by camp culture, vintage and kitsch design, Australian Gothic, as well as my early love of Ghibli, Aardman stop motion, and a childhood exploring miniature worlds within nature. I combines these diverse references to inspire a playful cheekiness, dark humour and charm in my characters.
Taking inspiration from the sea and bush, my recent works explore species conservation, environmental destruction, the perspectives of non-humans, and feelings of otherness and Queerness. I am interested in scale and place, and alternative viewpoints to connect to other habitats and worlds.
My love for illustration and film led me to complete the BA of Animation and Interactive Media at RMIT. My graduate film
‘Dance of the Dead’ was selected for MIFF 2019 and has since been shown at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Arts exhibition ‘The Magic Arts: Australian Animation from the 1970s to Now’ as well as internationally.
My work has also shifted to the physical realms, and have created installations including '
Rockpool' which was exhibited at Dot. Space Gallery in 2021, featuring a giant diorama of a rockpool in the window. It explored a deep longing for nature during lockdowns in 2020 and invited viewers on the street to observe the wonder and precarity of living in a microcosm ecosystem from the experiences of non-human forms and their habitats.
2021-2022 I spent some time living in the coastal towns of Anglesea and Aireys Inlet where I participated in Regional Arts Victoria’s Creative Workers in Schools Program. It involved 6-month residency planning a creatively focused curriculum to local students at Aireys Inlet Primary School in collaboration with local artist, Rebecca Hosking. We created several outcomes with each class in storyboarding, stop-motion, filming techniques, character design and Augmented Reality.
The past 8 years I have worked as an illustrator for various clients on a wide range of projects, exhibited works in galleries and have spoken at schools regarding my practice and working in the creative industry. I also runs workshops in stop motion, drawing, paper construction and character design for people of all ages.
I have also been commissioned and worked alongside local film makers, and Australian musicians in creating animated videos.
I currently juggle lecturing at RMIT University, personal exhibitions and commercial illustration projects. When I’m not drawing, you’ll find me walking the Merri creek or down the surf coast looking in rockpools and for orchids.
Scarlet is available for enquires and collaborations. She runs artist talks, workshops, and is available for public mural commissions and freelance work in animaiton and illustrtaion. To keep up to date with more of her work, follow on Instagram
@the_ottofish_empire Scarlet is also a member of the animation collective, Sinister Aunts Studio (SAS), which includes creatives,
Juliet Miranda Rowe,
Sylvie Le Couteur,
Arefeh Mahali and Gabs Wills.
Follow SAS on Instagram
@sinister_aunts