'PHYSIS: Elemental Bodies' Solo Exhibition Lilli Waters
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This November, acclaimed Australian photographic artist Lilli Waters will present PHYSIS:
Elemental Bodies, a new solo exhibition created specifically for Melbourne's Hellenic
Museum. Bringing together an entirely new body of work with selected photographs from her acclaimed series Pay Attention to the Heavens (2023) and Orpheus (2021), the exhibition explores the profound relationship between the female body, mythology, and the elemental forces that shape our world.
Drawing on the ancient Greek concept of physis – the idea of nature as a living, generative
force – the exhibition presents a worldview in which rivers, stone, water and humanity exist as part of the same interconnected whole. Through contemporary Australian photography, Waters reimagines this enduring philosophy for a modern audience, inviting us to reconsider our place within the living world.
Created at Tidal River in Wilsons Promontory (Yiruk Wamoon), on the Country of the
Gunaikurnai and Bunurong Peoples, these photographs are shaped by a landscape forged
through nearly 400 million years of volcanic and tectonic activity. Here, geological time and
cultural history converge, and the landscape becomes more than a passive setting; it is a
living presence, embodying the exhibition's themes of ancient knowledge, transformation,
and interconnectedness.
Throughout history, waterways have been imagined as places of passage – thresholds
between the known and unknown. In PHYSIS: Elemental Bodies, tannin-darkened rivers,
mineral-rich granite and shifting currents are active participants in the images, dissolving the boundaries between body and place. Gold appears less as ornament and more as native element, while granite, flecked with crystalline quartz, feldspar and shimmering black biotite mica, anchors each composition in deep geological time. Foam and tea tree oils released by the surrounding Melaleuca forests drift across the water like celestial nebulae, revealing unexpected parallels between distant galaxies and our own microscopic ecosystems.
At the centre of these swirling landscapes are Waters' enigmatic subjects, whose relaxed,
often playful movements evoke the naiads of Greek mythology – freshwater nymphs who
were the protectors and physical personification of rivers, streams and springs. While their
carefree and Pre-Raphaelite-like qualities offer a gentle contrast against churning currents
and coarse granite, they should not be mistaken for fragile or passive. Rather, Waters
presents the female body as resilient, elemental, and inseparable from the earth itself.
Like the naiads they evoke, these women are both part of the river, and apart from it. Their
dynamic forms hover between emergence and disappearance, suspended in a state of
perpetual becoming as the river courses by, eroding the boundary between body and
landscape. An ancient inner presence is revealed, imbuing the figures with a sense of quiet
power that feels older than human history.
At a time of accelerating ecological change, PHYSIS: Elemental Bodies offers a powerful
meditation on our relationship with the natural world. By recalling the ancient Greek idea of physis, the exhibition invites audiences to see themselves not as separate from nature, but as participants within a vast, living continuum that connects people, place, and the elemental forces that sustain us.
Presented by the Hellenic Museum, PHYSIS: Elemental Bodies reflects the Museum's
commitment to fostering dialogue between ancient Greek ideas and contemporary artistic
practice, demonstrating the enduring relevance of classical thought in addressing some of
today's most pressing questions.
PHYSIS: Elemental Bodies opens at Melbourne’s Hellenic Museum on Saturday 14
November 2026. For more information, visit hellenic.org.au/physis.
Additional Information
About Lilli Waters
Lilli Waters (b.1983) is a Thai-Australian contemporary photographic artist living and working on Wurundjeri Country, Australia. Having studied photography in 2002, Waters has exhibited across Australia, Italy, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States since 2012.
Waters’ photographs can be considered autobiographical landscapes that explore feminist
ideologies inherited through her maternal lineage and the complex history of her identity as a Thai-Australian woman. Drawing from the visual language of Dutch still-life painting, her work is composed of carefully constructed symbolic environments: self-portraits submerged in the river near where she was born, fabrics drifting through the water amongst waterlilies and nacre-covered shells, and female forms that embody strength and protection. Water recurs throughout her practice as a central motif, operating as a conduit for rebirth, transformation and renewal. Through her depictions of women in landscape, Waters deconstructs historical perspectives and subverts the monolithic male gaze to
re-contextualise what has been obscured within patriarchal structures.
Her work has been exhibited internationally through institutions, art fairs and festivals,
including FotoNostrum (Barcelona), California Museum of Photography, Photo Oxford
Festival (UK), International Center of Photography (NYC) and Palmengarten (Frankfurt), and
nationally through Sydney Contemporary, the Centre for Contemporary Photography,
Ballarat International Foto Biennale, Head On Photo Festival at the State Library Victoria,
and Heritage Hill Museum and Historic Gardens.
Waters is the 2024 winner of the Julia Margaret Cameron Award, the 2022 second-prize
winner of the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize Photography Award and winner of the 2020 Du
Rietz Art Awards. She is a multi-year finalist in the Australian Photography Awards (2020,
2022, 2023), the Du Rietz Art Awards (2020, 2022, 2025, 2026), the Ravenswood Australian
Women’s Art Prize (2021, 2022, 2026), the Fisher’s Ghost Art Award (2020, 2025), the
Nillumbik Prize for Contemporary Art (2021, 2022), Environmental Art & Design Prize (2022,
2026), and the Percival Photographic Portrait Prize (2020, 2022). She has also been a
finalist in the National Photographic Portrait Prize (2019), Iris Award (2019, 2021), Churchie
Emerging Art Prize (2025), the Naked & Nude Prize (2021), the Mullins Conceptual
Photography Prize (2026), the Biennale Adelaide Park Lands Art Prize (2020), Kangaroo
Valley Art Prize (2026), and highly commended in the Doug Moran National Contemporary
Photographic Prize (2012).
Her work has been published internationally in publications including Vogue, Harper’s
Bazaar, Elle, Marie Claire, Real Living, Belle, Art Aesthetica, Il Fotografo, FotoNostrum,
Austrian Living, The Opera and Pétala Magazine. It has also appeared in the films Fifty
Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed.
Lilli Waters lives and works in Melbourne / Naarm, Australia.
About the Hellenic Museum
Founded in 2007, the Hellenic Museum is Australia’s only museum dedicated to showcasing the transformational power of Greek art, history and culture, from antiquity to today. Through dynamic exhibitions, engaging public events and educational programs, the Hellenic Museum fosters intercultural dialogue and invites visitors of all ages and backgrounds to discover the enduring legacy of Hellenism. Open 10AM–4PM daily in Melbourne CBD. Learn more and plan your visit at hellenic.org.au.
Attributable Quotes
From Sarah Craig, Director, Hellenic Museum:
"At the Hellenic Museum, we are passionate about demonstrating the continued
relevance of ancient Greek ideas in contemporary life. PHYSIS: Elemental Bodies
beautifully reimagines the ancient concept of physis through Lilli Waters'
extraordinary photographic work, creating a dialogue between contemporary
Australian art, environmental change, and classical philosophy. It's a compelling
example of how enduring Hellenic ideas continue to inspire new ways of seeing
ourselves and our relationship with the natural world.”
From Lilli Waters, exhibiting artist:
“I'm deeply grateful to the Hellenic Museum for embracing this new body of work and
creating a space where contemporary photography can engage with ancient Greek
ideas in such a meaningful way. It's an honour to present PHYSIS: Elemental
Bodies, and I'm incredibly excited to finally share these photographs. The exhibition
brings together many of the questions that have shaped my practice over the years,
exploring our relationship with the natural world, mythology, the female form, and the
interconnectedness of all living things. I hope visitors leave with a renewed sense of
wonder and a deeper appreciation of the living world that surrounds us.”