Adrift

Adrift is an ongoing multidisciplinary project by Sherry Quiambao, spanning photography, moving image, sculpture and installation. Emerging from field research in South Sulawesi and ongoing studio development in Boorloo/Perth, the work explores ideas of home, movement and uncertainty, drawing on floating domestic structures and the ways people adapt to shifting environments.

Bringing together sculptural installation, objects, image and sound, Adrift considers home as both physical and imagined - shaped by memory, aspiration, displacement and change.

Across Quiambao’s broader practice, domestic spaces and objects are often used to examine aspiration, memory and belonging. In Adrift, the home becomes an architectural metaphor for movement, adaptation and instability, reflecting the ways people negotiate place, security and change.

Currently in development.

Lake Vision

In May 2026, we returned to Lake Tempe in South Sulawesi for a second period of field research for Adrift, facilitated by collaborator Nurabdiansyah. Working with members of the local community, a CCTV camera was installed on a floating house to record everyday life on the lake over an extended period. These excerpts capture moments of movement, daily activity and changing environmental conditions, forming part of the visual research informing Adrift.

We acknowledge Burnahuddin and his family, along with the wider Lake Tempe community, for their generosity and knowledge, and for assisting with the ongoing care of the camera.

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Who We Are

Adrift is a project by Sherry Quiambao, developed through collaboration across research, design, fabrication, moving image, sound and performance.

Artist, project lead: Sherry Quiambao
Research, community liaison & design development: Nurabdiansyah
Sculptural development, fabrication and technical production: Jessee Lee Johns
Performers: Keana Mislang, Ira Fai, Zendra Giraudo
Sound: Tom Lee
Documentation: Aaron Claringbold, Indra Basok, Irfan Ahmed


Image & video credits: Top and bottom videography - Indra Basok, studio documentation by Aaron Claringbold. All other photos by Sherry Quiambao

Adrift will continue development and production through 2027, with further project and presentation details to be announced.

This project has been supported through the Minderoo Artist Fund, the Walyalup Fremantle Arts Centre Studio Residency Program, and the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) Studio Residency Program.