Iona is a queer visual artist living and working in Melbourne. She works primarily in the mediums of drawing, photography, performance and installation. Her work is often concerned with ecology, body, relationship and place and explores themes such as grief, transience liminality and ritual. She is a founding member of the puppet company GoldenScissor Puppets and was part of First Site Gallery’s winter residency program in 2020, Out of Site. Her work has been published in magazines such as Voiceworks. She is in her second year at RMIT University in the School of Drawing.

Al lives, researches, and makes on the unceded lands of the Kulin peoples. Al is a multi-disciplinary artist who performs in dance, puppetry and physical theatre. Al continues to work as a dancer in 3 of Zoë Bastin choreographic works, has had the pleasure of working with Golden Scissor Puppets since its inception, and recently co-wrote a eulogy meant to make grieving people giggle. Alongside these practices, Al is a passion-tortured and proudly amateur writer and painter.

There was once a lil’guy named Caitey potatey, she is Greek, and a lady, and queer too, who trained at John Bolton Theatre School and Federation University, so that’s cool and makes you want to see her perspective doesn’t it! Caito works at Snuff Puppets and does really good art, performing as the comedic dishevelled Sheep in Swamp and the lurking Fishlak in Hellmouth for Golden Scissor Puppets. Caito has worked with Tamara Searle on Nightfall at La Mama and just recently toured Singapore for the Flipside Festival with Snuff Seagulls. Sometimes when she’s not holding and forming the minds of the population through her art she is a big strong Lifeguard! Kind, compassionate and here for a brief blip, Caito Zacharias makes being silly look easy!!!!

Opal, an intersex migrant from the Channel Islands, has made significant contributions to Australian puppetry since arriving in 2017. They founded Golden Scissor Puppets (GSP) in 2018, leading the troupe to create innovative works such as ANTHROPOCENE19, a climate justice piece, and HELLMOUTH22, which explores femininity, violence, and death. Their latest project, MOTUS IN MORTE, examines the impact of witnessing genocide through digital screens.

In addition to their work with GSP, Opal frequently collaborates with Snuff Puppets, contributing to the People’s Puppet Projects and engaging with community groups like the East African Women’s Foundation. As an engagement worker at Footscray Community Arts Centre (FCA), Opal supports artists with disabilities and leads creative workshops for all ages, including recent sessions at Changing Room Gallery. In 2023, they played a key role in Snuff Puppets' COCHLEA, a giant inflatable installation documenting trans and gender-diverse voices. Opal's puppetry has been showcased at festivals across Victoria and New South Wales, and in June 2024, they created original puppets for the Strobes Are on the Nose show at Darebin Arts Centre.

a skilled puppeteer, has been bringing life to inanimate objects for over 10 years. Born and raised in Perth, Bronwen developed an early passion for puppetry after seeing international puppetry works from France. After studying a puppetry postgrad at Victorian College of the Arts Bronwen began performing with small companies as well as developing experimental solo works that explored the nature of the puppet – extending the art form to the edge of its field. Using a combination of traditional and contemporary puppetry techniques, Bronwen creates unique and engaging performances that delight audiences of all ages. They are particularly skilled at manipulating intricate and complex puppets, using their extensive knowledge of movement and expression to bring their characters to life. Bronwen is a highly versatile artist with expertise in multiple disciplines. She began her artistic journey as a sculptor and installation artist, honing her skills at Curtin University. Her early works were site-specific and aimed to engage the viewers' senses in immersive environments. As a member of Environmental Performance Authority, Bronwen collaborates on creating participatory works that involve walking experiences in specific locations. Additionally, she completed a master’s degree in Contemporary Art at VCA, where she specialised in video art installation. All these diverse disciplines contribute to Bronwen’s art practice, which is guided by a unified sensibility. Her research themes, practical skills, embodied knowledge, and artistic intent all inform and enrich one another.