Kudos acknowledges and pays respect to the Gadigal and Bidjigal people of the Eora nation. They are the traditional custodians of the land Kudos operates on. We create, design, share, and exchange our work and knowledge on this important meeting place. We pay our respects to elders past and present and extend that respect to any First Nations people who engage with Kudos. This is and always will be Aboriginal land.
@hanlawrence_
@tildanjoo
@rivertheorymag
https://www.hannahvlieslawrence.com
https://rivertheory.site
River Theory 03
Hannah Vlies Lawrence is a lesbian arts writer and worker living on unceded Gadigal and Wangal Country. They are the co-founder and co-editor of River Theory magazine (est. 2024) and co-director of artist-run initiative Puzzle Gallery. Hannah’s art criticism and creative non-fiction has appeared in Memo Review, Voiceworksamework and Apocalypse Confidential among others.
Tilda Njoo is a queer arts worker living in Naarm. She is co-founder and editor of River Theory magazine and works in public programming in art galleries. Her work is informed by her studies in Art History and Curation. Tilda is the founder of Chiaro Magazine (2023) and has been published in Memo Review.
River Theory is a project centered around relationality. It was conceived originally as a way to give emerging writers an extended, thoughtful and collaborative editorial experience. As freelance writers ourselves, we found few opportunities for this kind of sustained editorial support for early-career creatives, so we made one. In this way, River Theory is about using the creation of a print magazine as an extended curatorial program to facilitate exchanges that develop skills and connect emerging creatives.
This interest in relationality is built into the editing process itself. We allow time for multiple editing rounds as well as opportunities for writers and subeditors to read each other’s work and provide feedback. We encourage the sharing of images and inspirations, whether it be regarding their work for River Theory 03, or their practice more broadly. We extend and translate contributions for the physical magazine to our launches in the form of exhibitions and public programs. As part of River Theory 03 we held a launch and exhibition at Season ARI on Gadigal and Bidjigal Country, with accompanying public programs. For our Naarm 03 launch, we had live readings and drawings from contributors, with food and drinks from our hosts at Raffy’s, an independently owned bar known for their support of independent art and culture in Naarm.
Each edition seeks to expand the ways in which contributors can utilise this project as a way to develop their skills, and experiment with new forms. Edition 03 Graphic Designer Anna Zhijun Xu / used her illustration skills as part of her custom design for Victor T. Jian poem ‘you are knives and i am soup.’ When curating the exhibition for the 03 Launch on Gadigal and Bidjigal Country, we asked if Anna would be interested in showing part of her moving image practice as part of the evening. Naughty Girl ( ) (2026), confessional travelogue meets early-naughts cyber nostalgia visuals, was exhibited at 03, its first time exhibited in a gallery. Writer Jade Begeng volunteered geological collages for her creative non-fiction manifesto titled ‘Metamorphic’. Within ‘Like bridges in the air: Letter-films, kinship and a grandmother’s thread’ Claire Ollivain experimented with portable scanners to translate her growing archive of family letters and postcards to distributable print. Artist Asil Habara wrote an extended artwork text, exploring the origins of her screenprint series Jihadi Drainer (2025) presented alongside the prints themselves. Graphic Designer Nell Trotter exhibited Scaffold Lamp (2026) a geometric lamp embroidered with photographs by the artist. It is only with River Theory’s extended time-frame that this kind of interdisciplinary experimentation can be fostered and given the opportunity to thrive.
Importantly, we aim to have this relationality extend beyond single editions. For our inaugural launch in Naarm this year, we were lucky to welcome back Edition 02 (2025) writer and exhibitor Wen Pei Low as part of our live drawing program, where artists offer to personalise magazines with drawings for an additional donation to the Palestinian Social Fund and Mob Strong Fund. Edition 01 (2024) contributor Fiadh Dale did a reading of her work ‘letter to a void jumping pt. 1’ to new audiences, a lovely companion to readings by new contributors Ruby Howard and Victor T. Jian. At our launch on Gadigal and Bidjigal Land, Nath Gee exhibited work with us for the second time, having been part of Edition 02 as an artist and exhibitor. Genevieve Cox, long-time illustrator for River Theory and writer for our inaugural edition, both illustrated for 03 and participated as an artist in the live drawing program for both 03 launches. These relationships are essential to how our project functions, and allows us to foster relationships that have longevity, a rare occurrence as projects get shorter and deadlines tighter.
River Theory 03 Contributors: Asil Habara, Claire Ollivain, Deaundre Espejo, Emma Hooton, Jade Begeng, Kirst Willis, Nico Katehos, Patrick Johns, Ruby Howard, Shae Iqbal, Victor T. Jian, Anna Zhijun Xu / , Chloe Maguire, Henrietta Heintze, Nell Trotter, Chelsea Monique Daniel, Victoria Gillespie, Zeinab Jishi, Zoe Christofides, Genevieve Cox, Lana Galloway, Nath Gee, Toni Tait, Luck Parker, Fiadh Dale, Wen Pei Low, Danielle Dwyer, Penne Kunzler.