Selected Art Works
Dan Eleni Carey is an interdisciplinary artist, writer and researcher whose practice sits at the intersection of ecology, disability and participatory arts.
Ecological Arts Project
Beneath the Surface (2023)
Beneath the Surface was a collaboration between Dan Eleni Carey & Julie Henninger. A floating, site-responsive performance and installation by canoe in Kangaroo Valley, the work explored themes of ecological crisis, sustainability and connection.
The script centred on Julie and my findings of our field research/canoeing expeditions and the possible extinction of the Kangaroo River Perch. Audience members experienced a 2.5 hour guided canoe adventure to participate in the immersive theatre show and contribute poetry to the art installation, which was a collection of over 100 poems from an international community, placed into recycled plastic bottles which were hung or floated alongside woven and found objects.
Creative Team: Dan Eleni and Julie Henninger (co-directors); Georgia Adamson, Niki Read, Ember, Maddi and Luca Hall, Amelie Ecology, Rachel Hall and Gareth Thomas.
Commissioned by: Festival of the Canoe and Kayak Festival (The FOCK) in Kangaroo Valley, NSW.
Grant Support: Festival Australia Grant ($45K)
Other support: Valley Outdoors and Take 3 for the Sea.
More info: https://www.danelenicarey.com/work/beneaththesurface
Health Matters! Art Competition and Exhibition(2025/2026)
Creative Leadership in Arts-Based ResearchHealth Matters! was a national art competition and exhibition celebrating 60 artworks by 49 artists with lived experience of intellectual disability from across Australia.
Developed as part of a qualitative research project led by the Centre for Disability Studies and the National Centre of Excellence in Intellectual Disability Health, the project explored a simple but significant question: What health issues matter most to people with intellectual disability?
As member of the interdisciplinary research team, Dan Eleni Carey co-designed the national art competition and then led the creative development and delivery of the art competition—from shaping its vision and accessible participation framework through to artist engagement, project coordination and the independent curation of the final exhibition.
Role: Curator; Co-designer; Project Lead; Researcher
Support: Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
More Info: danelenicarey.com/work/health-matters-art-competition
Magnify! An Immersive Insect World (2024)
Ecological Arts ProjectCreated by Dan Eleni Carey and Amelie Ecology, MAGNIFY! was an interdisciplinary, immersive ecological arts event designed to celebrate the launch of Amelie’s debut studio album and mark a decade of Wild Ground Creative Adventures. Presented at the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre, MAGNIFY invited audiences into a vibrant, speculative insect-world—part celebration, part ecological provocation.
Role: Artist Collaborator; Producer
Support: 2023 Blue Mountains City of the Arts Grant (Amelie primary recipient)
More info:danelenicarey.com/work/magnify
Weaving Wild Wonder(2021)
Ecological Art ProjectWeaving Wild Wonder was a socially embedded art intervention grounded in relational aesthetics and co-creative process by Julie Henninger and Dan Eleni Carey, developed as a COVID-responsive project during the 2021 lockdowns. Drawing on participatory arts methodologies and eco-aesthetic principles, the project invited the public to document and share images of circles—found or formed—as metaphoric portals for connection, care and continuity in a time of rupture.
Role: Co-Artist; Project Lead
Support: Wild Ground Creative Adventures
More Info: https://www.danelenicarey.com/work/weavingwildwonder
Wild Ground: Bushfire Recovery Project (2020)
Ecological Arts ProjectA trauma-responsive, community-based arts initiative, Wild Ground: Bushfire Recover Project was co-developed by Andrea Ketterling and Dan Eleni Carey as a creative intervention in the wake of the 2019–2020 bushfires. Drawing on therapeutic storytelling, nature-based play, and expressive arts, the project supported emotional resilience and collective healing for children and families impacted by the bushfires and following the loss of Wild Ground’s private bush site to fire.
Role: Writer; Artist; Project Lead
Support: Crowd funder Campaign
More info: https://www.danelenicarey.com/work/bushfirerecovery
The Nature of Motherhood: A sit spot writing (2018)
Ecological Art ProjectThe Nature of Motherhood was a participatory, site-responsive creative project facilitated by dan eleni carey in 2018. Rooted in Jon Young’s nature connection practice of daily “sit spotting,” the project unfolded as a 30-day durational engagement exploring the intersections of ecological presence, place-based noticing, and maternal subjectivity.
Role: Writer & Artist; Project Lead
Support: Wild Ground Creative Adventures
More Info: https://www.danelenicarey.com/work/sitspotmotherhood
Into the Bower (2014)
Ecological Arts ProjectInto the Bower was an interactive, community-engaged art project presented by Wild Ground Creative Adventures as part of the 2014 Australian Climbing Festival. Conceived as a large-scale, participatory installation, the project invited festivalgoers to co-create a giant, blue-themed bower using natural materials, found objects, and recycled craft items.
Role: Artist; Project Lead
Support: Private Commission from Blue Mountains Climbing Festival