ARTIST IN FOCUS: Sita Norsworthy

5 Oct

Multi-Disciplinary Artist // ARMY

About the artist

I am currently serving as a Civil Engineering Army Officer, and am working remotely from the Mornington Peninsula in order to be with my husband, Troy (current serving RAAF Physical Training Instructor), our two sons, Logan and Markus, and our blue Staffy, Titan. Outside of work, I love being creative exploring different mediums and interests to help calm my very busy brain.

I joined the military in 2008 straight out of high school and studied a Bachelor of Civil Engineering through ADFA. I completed my General Service Officer training at the Royal Military College, Duntroon in 2011 prior to returning to ADFA to complete my Honours year. My military career has seen me posted all over the country and fill numerous engineering and non-engineering roles within Construction Squadrons, Combat Engineering Regiments, Formation and Higher Headquarters. I have also deployed within Australia as part of the Australian Aboriginal Community Assistance Program (AACAP) as well as overseas to Papua New Guinea and East Timor.

When did your creative journey begin?

I think I have always been drawn to art in one form or another, and as an Engineer, I love to solve problems. Growing up I dabbled in lots of different sports including gymnastics, dance, tennis, basketball, swimming and adventure training. I also played the piano growing up and performed in a number of eisteddfods both for dance and as a pianist.

When I was in year 12, I won an academic award for geology and the prize was $500 which I used to buy my very first camera. During my military career, I continued to play basketball (which is how I met my husband) until I injured my back on an Army exercise in 2016 which forced me to stop playing competitively. That was the year I got my first DSLR camera, which was a gift from my husband. At the time, I could only use the camera in automatic mode, and it wasn’t until the following year that I started teaching myself how to shoot in manual mode and edit. I love all types of photography including nature/wildlife, families, maternity, boudoir and astrophotography.

At the end of 2017, I had my eldest son, Logan, and while on maternity leave in 2018, I finished my master’s degree. Once I finished my degree, I still had six months of leave to go, so I decided to complete a course on how to make breastmilk and DNA jewellery, and that is how I started my little business Little Hollows Creations (previously called Little Hollows Keepsakes). Over the years this has evolved to include many other art mediums, some of which include graphic design, sewing, woodwork, macramé, laser cutting and crafting with materials like wood, leather and cardstock.

Unfortunately, for the first part of my military career, I didn’t feel like I could connect with my creative side for a number of reasons: never being in one place long enough, balancing work and relationship commitments, and the idea that being creative didn’t fit the mould of what an Army Engineering Officer should be. The last few years have been a massive learning and growth journey for me, and thanks to ANVAM and FOVA and the incredible support I am surrounded with, I am happily breaking the mould and finding different ways to fill my creative cup! growth

How do you start the creative process?

Practicing my photography more and more over the past few years has helped me to see the world differently than I used to. I look at normal, everyday things, but I am able to consider different angles and lighting to view the world like I would through my lens. This makes me see beauty and potential in what may otherwise be considered mundane, ordinary or average. It’s kind of like a super power!

When it comes to my other creations, I like to take inspiration from nature and what’s around me. Sometimes it might be trying something that I’ve seen online, other times it might be an idea that’s forming in my brain that I need to try to bring to life, and sometimes it’s an idea that someone has suggested, and I have a play around to see if it will work.

What are the techniques of your craft?

For photography, I am completely self-taught, mostly via online theory and video tutorials, as well as through trial and error. My primary editing tools are Lightroom and Photoshop, plus a few others I use occasionally as required.

When I started creating breastmilk and DNA jewellery, I completed a 3 month course with another established breastmilk and DNA artist. After I completed the course, there was a lot of trial and error involved before I felt like I was at a point where I could start my business. At the time we were posted to Darwin, so I also completed a small business course that was funded and run by the NT Government.

Eventually I would like to do some more formal training including photography, editing and lighting courses, and also complete some woodwork and joinery courses.

Does your artistic process have highs and lows?

When it comes to photography, I love to turn a normal, everyday scene into something beautiful that brings other people joy. Being able to bring a smile to someone’s face just by looking at something I have captured is incredibly rewarding. Some of the favourite images that I have taken over the years include candid family images which capture pure joy, laughter, love and light.

With my jewellery, particularly the breastmilk and DNA memorial jewellery I have created over the years, there is something so special about creating a tangible piece of jewellery that a family member can keep with them at all times. I feel truly honoured that so many people over the years have trusted me with parts of their most precious loved ones—whether that be breastmilk, hair from a loved one, fur from a beloved pet who has passed away, or ashes from a pet or family member. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to create as much memorial jewellery as I would like as it is fairly time consuming and I am very busy juggling full time work, ongoing medical appointments, being a mum and my many other hobbies.

The biggest thing I have struggled with is imposter syndrome, self-doubt and constant thoughts of “I’m not good enough” or “I’m not a real photographer/artist as I haven’t completed any formal training in X, Y or Z.” Finding the time to do all the things that I want to do is also really challenging, so I find that I constantly have numerous little projects on the go at once that I flit between depending on how much time I have available. Another struggle I am constantly dealing with is my need to say yes to every request that I receive and reverting to the ingrained military engineer mindset of “just figure out a way to make it work”. Being unable to say no means that I put a lot of pressure on myself to try to do everything for everyone, which at times causes my physical and mental health to suffer.

Describe the relationship between your creativity and your service

In 2023, my best friend, Aleisha Croxford, told me about the ADF Creative Arts Association and invited me to join as an artist. My first response was “but I’m not an artist!” Jeez did I get a stern talking to about how wrong I was! It was very weird to hear myself and my “art” talked about by another person in a way that made it sound like I was an artist. Although my imposter syndrome did take hold and kept telling me that I’m not a real artist, the continuous support from my friends, family, ADF Creative and ANVAM has helped me to start accepting the fact that I may actually be an artist!

For a really long time, I didn’t think of myself as being creative and I couldn’t see a connection between the Army military engineer version of myself and the creative/artsy version of myself. For a lot of military women, who we are in uniform is very different to the person we are when out of uniform. Then throw being a mother into that and it can be like you are juggling multiple different versions of yourself. For a really long time, those different parts of myself were kept very separate from each other. However, in recent years I have been on a self-development and growth journey, which has allowed me to start to bring all of these different versions of myself together to form a truer, more authentic version of myself. My past ideas that I couldn’t be creative because it doesn’t align with the stereotype of an Army military engineer are slowly dissolving and I am happily breaking the mould of what I should or shouldn’t be.

As someone recently told me, being an engineer is all about finding creative solutions to problems, and this is very similar to what artists do! Likewise, artists and scientists and engineers strive to see the world in new and different ways, to comprehend what they are seeing, and then communicate that to others.

How does art affect your wellbeing?

I have suffered a lot of acute and chronic mental and physical injuries throughout my career, and being creative has always been a way to fill my cup and have some mindfulness me-time. I also have an extremely busy brain, so being able to use my hands or brain to be creative has been an effective way to quieten the noise and help me to slow down and be more present in the moment. I always find that when I am sitting down to edit a gallery, by the end of it my cheeks are aching because, without realising it, I have been smiling the whole time!

Art can take so many different forms and is very different for everyone. A type of art may not resonate with one person, but may be life changing for another. Being able to try different types of art and work with different mediums is a great way to venture into the creative world and work out what connects with you and what doesn’t. I think everyone is an artist and creative in their own way, even if they may not think it. For some it’s singing or writing poems, for others it’s dancing and performing, or it may be drawing, painting or sculpting! I would encourage everyone to try a few different things, and figure out what works best for you—there is no one right answer!

What’s next?

2026 has been a pretty big year for me so far! In March I had a stall with other veteran artists at the Southgate Markets as part of the 2026 FOVA and in April some of my earrings were stocked in a local Canberra store called Uniquified Gifts in Gungahlin. In May I was able to set up a pop-up at a local store called Artisan’s Alley in Mornington, VIC that features local artists, and I also had a few photographs featured at the Defending the Arts exhibit in Canberra.

I have quite a bit of travel coming up for work over the next few months, so I’m not sure what is on the horizon next, but I’m sure there will be something! All I know is that there will always be some new project from my very long list of ideas that I will start to bring to life, and that being creative will always be a big part of my true self.