Sydney NSW Sittings by appointment Est. paper records
Identity Canvas Core

Identity journey sittings · applied identity analysis · bound canvases

Commissioned canvas

Identity Journey Canvas

Three sittings and a bound document that maps the stations of a life and analyses how identity was applied at each one.

Handwritten pages and clipped documents spread across a desk
Draft sheets before binding. The sitter’s own papers stay in their hands; we work from copies made in the room.
Format
Commissioned canvas
Duration
Four to eight weeks; three sittings
Where
Paper room, Level 12, 19 York Street, Sydney; correspondence sittings by arrangement
Fee basis
From AUD 2,400

The Identity Journey Canvas is for an adult who wants a lasting, readable account of how they became who they are — and of how that identity has been put to use. Sitters often come at a hinge: a child asking questions, a retirement, a return to a country of origin, a name restored after a marriage or a naturalisation.

What the canvas is

The finished work is a bound document, usually eight to sixteen pages. It holds:

  • excerpts from the sittings, in the sitter’s phrasing
  • a mapped sequence of stations — the turning points the sitter can still stand inside
  • a written analysis of how identity was applied at those stations: kept, performed, hidden, renamed, or refused
  • a short colophon naming the papers consulted (letters, workbooks, photographs, a passport page) without reproducing private documents in full

It is not a legal genealogy, not a clinical report, and not a book for sale. One copy is bound for the sitter. A sealed duplicate is held only if the sitter asks.

Who sits, and who does not

The canvas is written for the person in the chair. Adult children sometimes pay the fee; the sitter still decides what enters the room. We do not sit with a person who cannot consent, and we do not reconstruct a life from relatives’ memories alone. Family Identity Sittings exist for related people who want to be in the same conversation.

What is included

  • an opening sitting of ninety minutes to set the span of years and the papers
  • two working sittings of two hours, usually two to three weeks apart
  • reading of documents the sitter brings, copied in the room and returned the same day
  • a draft canvas sent as printed sheets
  • one revision sitting of sixty minutes
  • the bound canvas

What is excluded

Certificate research at registries, therapeutic treatment, employment placement, publication, and interviews with people who are not in the room. If a sitting uncovers a question that belongs with a counsellor, a migration agent, or a historian of a particular community, we say so and stop at the edge of our work.

How the weeks run

  1. You write with the span of years you care about and whether you can come to York Street.
  2. We confirm a first date or suggest an opening sitting if the canvas is more than you need.
  3. Opening sitting: we list stations, not chapters. You leave with a short list of papers to bring next time.
  4. Working sittings: we go station by station. Silence is allowed. A sitting can be stopped and resumed.
  5. Draft: you read on paper. You mark what must never be written, what is mis-heard, and what is missing.
  6. Revision sitting and binding.

Four weeks is possible when papers are few and the sitter is in Sydney. Eight weeks is common when letters have to be fetched from another house or a sitter needs longer between visits.

Preparation

Bring what marks the journey, not what looks official. Useful papers include letters, a work roster, a report card, a union card, a photograph with writing on the back, a recipe in another hand, a deed poll, a ticket. Do not bring original certificates you cannot replace; we can work from a copy you make at home.

Eat beforehand. The paper room is a working table, not a café. Water is on the sideboard.

Constraints

We work in English. Sitters may speak another language in the room; the bound canvas is written in English unless we have agreed, before the first sitting, that a family member will take the English line. We do not record audio unless the sitter asks in writing; notes are taken by hand and typed later. The studio does not travel inside a private home. Correspondence sittings (written answers plus one long telephone sitting) are available for sitters outside the Sydney basin; the fee is quoted after we have read the opening letter.

Fee and next step

The standard canvas for one adult, three sittings, one revision, and binding starts at AUD 2,400. Additional sitters, a large private archive, or a rush binding are quoted before work starts. A deposit of one third holds the first date.

Request a sitting date and name the years you want on the table. If you are unsure the canvas is the right depth, begin with an Opening Sitting.

Request this sitting How a sitting runs