Dead Reckoning
Dead Reckoning explores navigation as a metaphor – in pinpointing complex diagnostics in chronic illness, injury and disability; and in the trialling of new treatment plans.
Dead Reckoning is a convergence of works made across my health journey – Uncharted Waters, Voyage to Disaster, Wayfaring – anchored in limestone reefs, the Abrolhos Islands and the Batavia wreck.
A vital tool, but with inherent fallibilities, dead reckoning is navigation method relying on estimating one’s current track, from past bearings.
Plunged between the island groups of Occam’s Razor and Hickam’s Dictum, navigation is tumultuous, erratic – requiring feats of endurance.
A constant push – pull between medical disciplines, hypothesise in care, diagnostics and treatments.
Dead reckoning is how I feel as a complex patient.
Often finding nothing.
Often retracing your path.
Often colliding with the unknown – the vast unmapped spaces, the submerged reefs – causing chaos and confusion.
Occasionally, finding land.
I often feel like a rogue explorer, braving the unknown in ferocious seas with a captive crew. Sea weary. Every storm is a battle. Land is a shipwreck. Lack of wind is lack of progress.
But when I pause to look, in the stillness, I see inherent knowledge of how to survive – and to even thrive – exists all around me.
Different ways of being emerge gently – on the the islands, in the ocean, and though people (patients) sharing their lived experiences.
I was never the first person here.
I will never be the last.
I hold my breath, dive deep, and uncover these treasures.
The imagery of the ocean, of navigation, shipwreck, treading water, the act of drowning and of submersion, is the constant visual dialogue of my injury. These motifs are how I make sense of my experiences.
Amanda Alderson
SICK AF founder, lead curator, artist jeweller, storyteller
Website: amandaalderson.com
Website: studio.amandaalderson.com
Instagram: @studio_amandaalderson
Online shop: studio.amandaalderson/shop
List of Works
Voyage to Disaster series
Amanda Alderson
Voyage to Disaster
Focus
(2024)
925 silver, chalcedony
NSF ($245-$275) (enquire for commissions)
Amanda Alderson
Voyage to Disaster
Caskets of jewels
(2025)
925 silver, amethyst, cubic zirconias, patina
NSF ($275-$350) (enquire for commissions)
Amanda Alderson
Voyage to Disaster
Reign of terror
(2024)
925 silver, chalcedony, cubic zirconias, freshwater pearls, patina
NSF (enquire for commissions)
Amanda Alderson
Voyage to Disaster
Moonlight on reef
(2025)
999 silver, cubic zirconia
NSF ($275-$350) (enquire for commissions)
Amanda Alderson
Voyage to Disaster
Rigging. Cordage. Noose
(2024)
999 silver, cubic zirconia
NSF ($245-$350) (enquire for commissions)
Amanda Alderson
Voyage to Disaster
Reclaim, lustre
(2022)
925 silver, freshwater pearls
NSF ($245-$275) (enquire for commissions)
Amanda Alderson
Voyage to Disaster
Object of desire
(2024)
925 silver, freshwater pearl, keum boo
NSF ($275-$425) (enquire for commissions)
Amanda Alderson
Voyage to Disaster
Abre os olhos – Open your eyes
(2024)
925 silver, brass, acrylic eye, cubic zirconias, patina
NSF (enquire for commissions)
Amanda Alderson
Voyage to Disaster
Under the water it rumbled on
(2024)
925 silver, brass, cubic zirconia
NSF (enquire for commissions)
Amanda Alderson
Voyage to Disaster
Salt, sand, forgotten
(2024)
925 silver
NSF (enquire for commissions)
Amanda Alderson
Voyage to Disaster
Musket balls and sea foam
(2024)
925 silver, cubic zirconia
NSF ($245-$275) (enquire for commissions)
Amanda Alderson
Voyage to Disaster
Protect
(2024)
925 silver, brass
NSF ($245-$275) (enquire for commissions)
Uncharted Waters series
Amanda Alderson
Uncharted Waters
Use your intuition
(2025)
925 silver, green quartz
NSF ($245-$275) (enquire for commissions)
Amanda Alderson
Uncharted Waters
Navigate
(2025)
925 silver, labradorite
NSF ($245-$275) (enquire for commissions)
Amanda Alderson
Uncharted Waters
I am the storm
(2025)
925 silver, labradorite
NSF ($245-$275) (enquire for commissions)
Wayfaring series
Amanda Alderson
Wayfaring
Courageous
(2023)
925 silver
$175
Amanda Alderson
Wayfaring
Resonance / Balance
925 silver, cubic zirconia
$245
Amanda Alderson
Wayfaring
Breathe
925 silver, cubic zirconia
NSF ($245-$275) (enquire for commissions)
Amanda Alderson
Wayfaring
Connected
925 silver
NFS
Amanda Alderson
Wayfaring
Shine Bright
925 silver, cubic zirconia
NSF ($175) (enquire for commissions)
Amanda Alderson
Wayfaring
Wayfind
925 silver, cubic zirconia
$245
Amanda Alderson
Wayfaring
Powerful
925 silver, cubic zirconia
$245
Houtman Abrolhos series
Wallabi island group
Amanda Alderson
Wallabi island group
North island
(2025)
pencil, acrylic, graphic marker on wood
21cm diameter
$200 each
Amanda Alderson
Wallabi island group
West Wallabi island
(2025)
pencil, acrylic, graphic marker on wood
21cm diameter
$200 each
Amanda Alderson
Wallabi island group
East Wallabi island
(2025)
pencil, acrylic, graphic marker on wood
21cm diameter
$200 each
Amanda Alderson
Wallabi island group
Morning Reef
(2025)
pencil, acrylic, graphic marker on wood
21cm diameter
$200 each
Easter island group
Amanda Alderson
Easter island group
Rat Island
(2025)
pencil, acrylic, graphic marker on wood
21cm diameter
$200 each
Amanda Alderson
Easter island group
Wooded, Morley and Crake Islands
(2025)
pencil, acrylic, graphic marker on wood
21cm diameter
$200 each
Amanda Alderson
Easter island group
Gilbert and Alexander Islands
(2025)
pencil, acrylic, graphic marker on wood
21cm diameter
$200 each
Amanda Alderson
Easter island group
Campbeli Island
(2025)
pencil, acrylic, graphic marker on wood
21cm diameter
$200 each
Pelsart island group
Amanda Alderson
Pelsart island group
Pelsart island (detail 2)
(2025)
pencil, acrylic, graphic marker on wood
21cm diameter
$200 each
Amanda Alderson
Pelsart island group
Pelsart island (detail 3)
(2025)
pencil, acrylic, graphic marker on wood
21cm diameter
$200 each
Amanda Alderson
Pelsart island group
Pelsart island (detail 1)
(2025)
pencil, acrylic, graphic marker on wood
21cm diameter
$200 each
Amanda Alderson
Pelsart island group
Pelsart island (detail 4)
(2025)
pencil, acrylic, graphic marker on wood
21cm diameter
$200 each
Uncharted Waters
Uncharted Waters honours the personal journey of finding our way, of traveling and traversing our lives through the calm and rough seas, and occasional unnavigated paths.
This suite of works was created as neuro-rehabilitation.
Wayfaring
This series was created as an act of empowerment – a reminder of one’s own powerful ability to embody positivity, inspiration, resilience, protection, to create healing and growth, and to declare of personal intentions.
Voyage to Disaster
Dead Reckoning features jewellery from the Voyage to Disaster collection, exploring the central characters and key events in the wrecking of the Batavia in 1629 on the Abhrolos Islands – an infamous part of Western Australian history. These artworks are based on the journals of the Batavia’s Captain Pelsart.
Dead reckoning navigation was used to uncover the treasures of the wrecked ship and the remaining crew.
The act of mapping through uncharted waters has been a constant visual motif during my injury.