Hiya! My name is Mackenzie.
I am a Sydney based, 3rd year Design Student at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) studying Bachelor of Design (Visual Communications).
My passions include Visual Narratives & Storytelling, mixed media and alternative thinking for creative innovation to develop curiosities that make audiences think.
I love to travel, explore new places, my gorgeous pups and my loved ones. I find joy in noticing and getting lost in my corner of craft supplies.
If you’ve lost me, you can find me laying in the sun at a gallery sketching my trinkets with a sweet treat in hand.
I’m always up for a challenge and new experiences, espiecally when the journey can be unkown. The more ‘new’ you can try, the more colourful life becomes.
Trash Talk (2025)
Litter and waste are becoming the new signs of the city and speaks for itself to how negligent people are becoming in their environments. Apart of a visual response to Robert G Harland’s ‘Graphic Objects and their Contribution to the Image of the City’ (2015).
#ShinyChristmasBeetle (2025)
A 45 second motion graphic designed to encourage and influence audiences, specifically of adults and older children, to partake in The Australian Museum’s Citizen Project by using the Christmas Beetle app to help scientifically track the Christmas Beetles’ population that participants may find in their surrounding environment.
The utilisation of a “Internet Influencer” like character paired with a vlogging film style visualise the reverse experience of Australian Museum’s Citizen Project. This is achieved from the perspective of a Christmas Beetle Influencer filming a “Day in My Life” video with the combination of editing, comedic timing, type, verbal and non-verbal scripts all planned to communicate the motion’s goal of advertising the app.
A 25 second version was also developed for more concise content for social platforms.
Sippo (2025)
A 2 week Design Group Sprint aimed to apply design to Healthcare whilst in Malaysia and Singapore. Sippo strives to bring awareness of Nurses’ importance and donating proceeds to mental health resources through bought drinks with the designed sleeves.
Team members include; Teo Tabar (UTS), Asal Mohammadi (Sunway MY), Bernadette Grigalius (QUT), Hei Yi Catherine Ng (QUT), Huang Chen Hsuan (TTU TWN), Nur Qistina Binte Kaswani (NYP SG) and Nur Shakira Binte Zainuddin (NYP SG).
Adrift (2024)
A curated video response to Claire Rowe’s ‘Survival Stories’ by Dr Zoe Sadokierski and Ceridwen Dovey, capturing how humans, just like the Cassiopeia Jellyfish floating in the sea, can feel lost and question their purpose. This was apart of a 3 form studio sprint.
Hide & Seek (2024)
Creating a visual narrative capturing a connection to place made me reminisce on the days my two younger sisters and I played “Sardine” Hide & Seek together. We play less now and seeing them grow up so quickly makes me question if I am ready or not to never play again.
Made with mixed media soft fabrics and printed with a tradtionally hand-carved sardine stamp from Tharangini Print Studio in Bangalore, India.
Elegant Mysteries (2024)
An animated visual depiction of the Cassiopeia Jellyfishes’ cyclical but fragile lifestyle as a response to Claire Rowe’s ‘Survival Stories’ by Dr Zoe Sadokierski and Ceridwen Dovey. This was apart of a 3 form studio sprint.
Speculative Fictions (2023)
To renew the attention on 3 classic 20th century novels and entice a new audience, the dystopian texts are redesigned to communicate as a series and individually.
Novels include 1984 by George Orwell (1949), Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1932) and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (1953).
Lockdown Freedom (2022)
Sized at 200 x 300 x 15cm Overall Approx.
Exhibiting in the 2022 First Class HSC exhibition at The MAC Museum Lake Macquarie from 4th Febuary to 31st March 2023.
A paradox reflecting two concepts in contradiction: pandemic lockdown and the feeling of freedom when exploring nature. Investigating the rocky coastlines of my coastal areas’ micro-systems were photography captured still thriving despite a debilitating pandemic.
I escaped lockdown to the colour palette and the invigorating senses of the coastal environment. The motion of the water and the constant presence of circular organic shapes and textures within the ocean rock platforms inspired me to capture their beauty.
The artwork is installed in such a way as to mirror the growth of covid case clusters and the interconnectivity of organisms in the ocean environment. To replicate a pandemic experience, elements were mimicked with the inclusion of face masks and a sign in QR code, which became part of our everyday normal. Whilst the pandemic has brought then negative impacts of grief, isolation, and anxiety, it has also allowed society to gain positivity by discovering the true necessities and beauty of nature.
Lockdown Freedom reflects this contradiction of the mind, body and collective experience during a pandemic lockdown.