Author Isobelle Carmody's installation, What would you stand for?, explores protests at Gorman Arts Centre

That's the core question to author and activist Isobelle Carmody's upcoming interactive installation at Gorman Arts Centre, What Would You Stand For?

From 2017 to 2018, Carmody stood in protest alone while holding a sign over her head for one hour almost every day, in Australia, as well as overseas in Oregon, America, and Prague, the Czech Republic. Through conversations with passers-by, Carmody has collected stories about protest experiences and public responses to her actions.

"I went on a few marches, and you'd be in the margin, you'd be marching, and it didn't feel like there could be any conversation between me and the people around,"

"And so one night, I thought, why don't I just do it myself? I'll go and protest on my own. And that way, I'll be accessible, I'll be vulnerable and so people will feel they can come up to me. So I started."

At first, Carmody says she was timid, sitting on the steps of the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, with her sign sheepishly next to her. But when security guards asked her to move on - away from the steps of the centre - she found it gave her extra confidence.

"For the first time, I stood with my sign above my head - I was so mad," she said.

"And usually, I'm timid. I don't like confrontations and I was really surprised that that was my response.

"But a lot of people came out and talked and I realise that's a very powerful thing. It's embarrassing for two minutes and then you're just there."

Photographs of her time protesting line the walls of F-Block Hall, at Gorman Arts Centre, however, the issues that Carmody stood for are not the focus of the exhibition.

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As the name suggests, What Would You Stand For? is more about people looking inwards, to work out what would be the thing that would make them stand in the street, holding a sign above their heads? And more broadly, what makes a good protest?

In a time where more people are participating in protest - children who skip school to attend climate rallies, crowds that gather at Parliament House to make their point, and even a select few who throw soup at priceless artworks - Carmody asks what makes a "good" protest?

"When I was a kid, it was hippies protesting about Vietnam. That's all I knew about protesting," Carmody says.

"Now it's school kids going out, it's old ladies - they're so fierce, those old ladies - and old men. You know, people you'd never expect.

"I would never have thought that we'd live in a world where people would protest about wearing a mask, for example. They have their things to say, but doctors have always worn masks.

"But there are many [types of protests] - people sticking themselves to Parliament, people throwing soup a Van Gogh. And I don't know what I think about those things and so part of this is that it's time that we, as Australians, have a conversation about what protest is."

What Would You Stand For? is at Gorman Arts Centre on Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm. To register for the free event, go to ainslieandgorman.com.au.

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