Nyssa Braid BS (Honours) » Team

Nyssa Braid is a ceramic artist who is interested in how art can help shape narratives about non-human animals and increase our connection with species for greater conservation outcomes. She holds a Bachelor of Science from La Trobe University and Honours in Environmental Science from Deakin University. During her honours year, she helped facilitate the ‘Bats & Belonging’ exhibition where she conducted research on how art practice connected local residents to grey-headed flying-foxes. Nyssa hopes to continue researching art’s potential to facilitate care for wild lives, and is particularly interested in how art could challenge narratives about misunderstood species in Australian cities. She intends to explore how care ethics, art, community, and science can intersect to create multispecies justice. Nyssa is currently employed as a research assistant at Deakin University, researching how mindfulness can intersect with sustainability education to create safe classrooms and better outcomes for practitioners.

She has experience in the art sector by working in local ceramic studios and exhibiting her work in group and solo exhibitions. In her work, she explores the relationship between humans and landscapes, and seeks to tell stories of the creatures and ecosystems we all inhabit. Through layered glazes and textured surfaces, she plays with colour and form to evoke home and emotion. Her work seeks to invite curiosity and care for the often-overlooked lives that surround us.
She is a big fan of bats in particular, and is a volunteer at the Friends of Bats and Bushcare group where she is continuously inspired by the compassion and power of community-led groups.