Created in partnership with Slemani City of Literature, The INKubator was a bilingual virtual writers’ room connecting writers from Slemani and Melbourne.
Throughout August-October 2025, Penelope participated in the INKubator. Five writers from each city connected weekly to explore the art of character creation and to present a piece of writing: a character representing an aspect of their city.
At the residency’s close, the ten writers were commissioned to generate a new piece of writing, and one that included aspects from the character(s) presented by the other city. This writing could take any form, and the works were published online in November- December 2025.
CLICK HERE to go to the Melbourne City of Literature publication to read Penelope’s piece. Or…read on!
Three legs in the stars
a man and a cat roll
hope-filled
roiling
roll-roiling through night sky
moon night purple sky
searching for place
moon star night sky purple roiling dreamtime star rolling
for place
to land
they have three legs between them
three legs and a world of knowledge…
the hope-filled man – the roiling cat
through purple sky fly up-up through dreamtime stars
until
wild roiled rolling
purple falling
three legs falling rolling roiling
down
to a spare-parts radio man
in the downstairs downstairs
the down-downstairs bunker
spare-parts radio man’s fixing place
deep down fixing place
beneath the temples the museums the cafés of an upside-down city
under a bookstore
under a train station
the bunker spare-parts fixing place
the man – the cat – the three legs
dream-flew
hope-flew
from their place – old place
old old place with ancient ways
to this new upside-down place
this spanking-new down-under place
to be maybe be remade
in the down-down bunker fixing place
where the spare-parts man tinkers
in the distance
tinker-toils
the cat – the man – with hope and three legs between them
soft-land
on dusty cardboard
soft dusty cardboard
land
and wait
above around soft dust cardboard landing
a barranca of books
Sîn-lēqi-unninni Sappho Shikibu Shakespeare
Makrembolitissa Mudarris Melville
famous infamous unknown forgotten
all here
reading material for the waiting
the cat – the man
with the three legs between them
aren’t in the mood for the poets and the greats
famous forgotten infamous unknown
no
they’d not rolled roiled roll-roiled through hope and purple night sky
for a waiting room
far away
down-under in a bunker
in dust-soft landing
for a distant spare parts toiler
to take his tinkering time
so
with their four eyes two hearts three legs and world of knowledge
the pair find a hole
in the down-down bunker upside-down bunker fixing place
a luminous sun-yellow hole
and float towards it
through it
into
a rose garden
rows rows wild rose rows
their three legs itching
for action
in the sun-yellow rows of roses
no more of the waiting floating flying dreaming
the time is now
the place
time-place is now
to be
remade
beneath the temples the museums the cafés of the upside-down city
beneath the bookstore the train station
in these sun-yellow wild rose rows
the man – the cat – with three legs and hope between them
pick
pull
pluck
one two three
red
blood-red
soft petal blood-red
apple scented
thornless roses
they ply
push-ply ply-twist
blood roses to stumps
one two three
into
body part stumps
to make three
six
to be fixed
the world of knowledge flickers
in eclipse
the blood-red roses
fail
one two three
blood red fail
to repair
to fix
to make three
six
the body part stumps remaining
as blood petals fall
four eyes two hearts and world of knowledge
in wavering sun-yellow light
the man and cat
remain
with three legs between them
and laugh
roll and roil
roll up laughing
to the purple dreaming star night sky
up through over the new upside-down-under place
away over the tinkering spare parts bunker
the temples the museums the cafés the bookstores
laughing rolling float-flying
for they are perfect as they are
Hosted by the Wheeler Centre’s Melbourne City of Literature Office, The Green House virtual writers room was an online residency running across ten weeks in 2024. Writers from selected UNESCO Cities of Literature each shared a ‘natural wonder’ from our home regions. The aim was to inspire us to create new work and make international connections.
I introduced where I live, the spectacular Gulidjan and Gadubanud Country in Victoria’s western Colac Otway Shire - part of the volcanic plains. I described how, from my house, I can see a volcano - Mount Warrion, which erupted 8-10,000 years ago: This volcano is dormant. “Dormire” is the Italian word for “sleep”. Mount Warrion is not extinct - but asleep - making the land feel alive and delightfully unpredictable.
A clay lake near our property has remnant indigenous aquaculture structures – fish, possibly eel traps. The area is well off the tourist maps. I love the beauty of this other-worldly terrain and the incredible creatures with whom we co-exist.
Lava flows, spectacular hyper-saline lakes and ephemeral wetlands surround the land upon which I live. Near my house is a salt lake, which reflects the sky and light when it contains water, and when dry in the hot months, the lake is turned to salt – white and shimmering.
Each week, one writer introduced a natural ‘wonder’ of their City of Literature region with a 30-minute presentation. I created a film, which included a montage of photos, and a piece of writing that wove and connected integrated something about the environments of the other writers. At the end of the ten-week residency, we did a writing workshop inspired by what we’d each shared and learned.
This project was created on the land of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong / Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin. We pay respect to their Elders past and present. We acknowledge and honour the unbroken spiritual, cultural and political connection they have maintained to this unique place for more than 2000 generations.
What are men thinking when they commit domestic violence? What goes through their heads?
Just about everybody feels anger, aggression or rage at some time or another. However, we are conditioned to respond, think, feel, and express these emotions very differently according to gender. This difference is explained by the patriarchy.
The Violence Project explores and focuses on domestic violence, the male version and experience of this, but embodied in women/people who identify as women.
Across 2020-2022, collaborating with documentary film-maker Dr Helen Gaynor, Penelope created scripts for a 3-day experimental lab at VCA film school. Across the lab, Helen documented the process while Penelope directed actors to enact monologues and to find male rage in domestic settings.
Actors:
Helen Hopkins
Nicole Harvey
Veronica Pena Negrette
Sancia Robinson
Production Photographer + Lighting & Sound:
Jason Lehane
Immense gratitude to Phil Jones, Men's Behaviour Change Specialist, for his incredible advice and insight.
This work took place on the lands of the Wurundjeri people, the traditional custodians this land.
If they could talk, what would significant landmarks and objects have to say?
Across the 2020-2021 lockdowns, Penelope Bartlau developed a new project, The Object Monologues. The Object Monologues is a geolocated audio experience delivered via Echoes (a free app), where the personality, idiosyncrasies, passions, loves and losses of landmarks and objects are brought to life. The Object Monologues has had 3 iterations to date, Darebin, Colac Otway and Geelong.
Created site-specifically, the character of each landmark object is a work of fiction crafted from historical research. Profiles are based on each object’s
• History and age
• Why and how it was created
• Perception from its vantage point
• Past - what it has witnessed and experienced
• Surroundings - relationships to other nearby landmarks or objects
The Object Monologues is created for everyone to feel joy, delight and wonder.
To go to the The Object Monologues CLICK HERE, where you can find each project, and get listening!
The Object Monologues was supported by: Darebin City Council, Colac Otway Shire, Regional Arts Victoria, City of Melbourne, City of Greater Geelong through the Arts & Culture Arts Industry Commissions in partnership with Creative Geelong.
The project takes place on the lands of the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation peoples, on the lands of the Gulidjan and Gadubanud peoples and on the lands of Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation.
We acknowledge First Nations people as the traditional owners and custodians of these lands and give thanks for allowing us to tell stories on these beautiful countries.
During COVID-19, Penelope Bartlau and collaborating artist Klari Agar created Postcards from the North.
At a time of social distancing, Postcards from the North was a virtual hug. Centred around Melbourne’s inner North, the project generated a series of six locative post-card artworks, inviting the reader/recipient to feel joy and delight as they share a gentle, moving, intimate short story-poem. Each postcard is a heart-warmer, aimed to make us all feel closer and more connected in the discombobulation that 2020 was.
Suggestions and ideas for the six postcards were gathered from the community online. Penelope and Klari developed six different postcards through a creative mashing of the community’s images and stories. Once completed, the postcard series was delivered online and also in hardcopy, which were distributed to the community.
Postcards from the North was inclusive, social and and collaborative art.
CLICK HERE to see a short video of the project outcome.
Artistic director/Writer - Penelope Bartlau
Visual artist/Photographer - Klari Agar
This project took place on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri Woiwurrung people. We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to Elders past and present.
This project was proudly supported by the Inner North Community Foundation
