
Isadora’s current work engages with the concept of novel ecosystems—drawn from the fields of environmental conservation and restoration—as a framework for examining the systems of value that shape our experiences and interactions with the material world. Central to this inquiry is her studio-based sculptural practice, which serves as a point of convergence for exploring material encounters within the local environment, a landscape situated between remnant waterways, heavy industry, and suburban development.
In this context, materials function not merely as passive substances but as carriers of complex political and cultural values. Their presence reveals the limitations of conventional approaches that treat both living and non-living matter as static or predetermined. By considering novel ecosystems as dynamic material assemblages, her work investigates how such entanglements can be spatially articulated through sculpture, offering a means to critically engage with the changing ecologies of the contemporary landscape.
Vaughan has created new commissions for Yield Strength: 2026 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, Art Gallery of South Australia and Samstag Museum of Art, Adelaide; The National 2021: New Australian Art, Carriageworks, Sydney; Overlapping Magisteria: The 2020 Macfarlane Commissions, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne; and TarraWarra Biennial 2018: From Will to Form, TarraWarra Museum of Art, Victoria. Vaughan has had significant solo exhibitions at Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, and Gertrude Glasshouse, Melbourne.

2026 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art
2026
Samstag Museum of Art
installation view
Photo: Sam Strong

Tributaries (Acid)
2022
steel frames with glass insets
176.0 × 60.0 × 36.0 cm

2026 Adelaide Biennial of Australia: Yield Strength
2026
Samstag Museum of Art
installation view
Photo: Sam Roberts

2026 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Yield Strength
2026
Samstag Museum of Art
installation view
Photo: Sam Strong

Habitat (bones)
2024
glazed ceramic, steel
140.0 × 55.0 × 55.0 cm overall 45.0 × 45.0 × 38.0 cm ceramic

Bilirubin Bezoar
2019
Gertrude Glasshouse,
Bilirubin Bezoar

To describe an active world
2025
STATION Naarm/Melbourne
installation view
Photo: Simon Strong

We end up with something partial
2023
ceramic
58.0 × 60.0 × 40.0 cm

Residues
2022
installation view

Rumours of True Things
2023
STATION Naarm/Melbourne
installation view
STATION

Rumours of True Things
2023
STATION Naarm/Melbourne
installation view

Pastoral or mountain scenes, small relaxing towns, simple worlds at peace, islands enthralled by trains infinitely lapping them
2023
steel and brass
115.0 × 88.0 × 95.0 cm

Habitat (tools)
2024
glazed ceramic, steel
143.0 × 55.0 × 5.0 cm overall 48.0 × 47.0 × 34.0 cm ceramic

Gabriel
2023
porcelain
17.0 × 6.0 × 6.0 cm

TarraWarra Biennial
2018
TarraWarra Museum of Art
installation view

Overlapping Magisteria: The 2020 Macfarlane Commissions
2020
Australian Centre for Contemporary Art
installation view
Photo: Andrew Curtis

Harvest
2019
Gertrude Glasshouse, Melbourne
installation view

Gaia not the Goddess
2019
Heide Museum of Modern Art
installation view
Photo: Christian Capurro

Untitled
2014
plaster and ceramic (embedded in the wall)
40.0 × 18.0 cm

Canker Sore

After Solutions
2015
plaster, cloth, aluminium, tambarc
dimensions variable

Grub (Eclipse)
2021
ceramic
45.0 × 70.0 × 38.0 cm

Slaty Cleavage #1
2015
enamel on copper
59.0 × 39.3 cm

Recalcitrant Bodies
2017
The Honeymoon Suite, Melbourne
installation view
Photo: André Piguet

Blue Carbon Sink
2018
glass, crushed rock, sand
40.5 cm diameter

Slatey Clevage
2015
enamel on copper
380.0 × 210.0 cm

Healthy Nuclear Ghost
2018
bronze and uranium glass
22.5 × 17.0 cm

Dial
2018
bronze
20.5 cm diameter

Cone
2019
stoneware with yellow oxide and beeswax
60.0 × 36.0 × 36.0 cm

Grafted Sapling
2022
plastic, epoxy, bolts
54.5 × 32.0 × 28.0cm

Embedding tunnels (Oil)
2021
ceramic panel
58.0 × 38.0 cm

Tributaries (Brine)
2021
steel frames with glass insets
176.0 × 60.0 × 36.0 cm

Embedding tunnels (Matte)
2021
ceramic panel
61.0 × 34.5 cm

Spent Bodies
2019
Gertrude Glasshouse, Melbourne
installation view

Doom Drain
2022
fibreglass and recycled plastic, bolts
56.0 × 56.0 × 18.0 cm

Crater
2016
fired stoneware and cephalopods, squid ink stained porcelain
dimensions variable