She grew up in public as a child actor and spent most of her twenties writing in the first person, then moved behind the scenes in her thirties with Women of Letters, which she curates and produces with presenter Michaela McGuire, before working as a writer on projects including KAGE physical theatre's latest production Picnic.

"I've spent the past couple of years very happily working anonymously in live art and immersive theatre and starting to develop a new practice for myself," Hardy says. "Working without my name attached has been the most beautiful thing I've done."

Now her new practice has received a sizeable boost, with Hardy named one of 10 recipients of a $160,000 Sidney Myer Fellowship for mid-career artists.

"It's the most wonderful thing," she said. "I cried a lot when I found out. I headbutted the dashboard four times."

She couldn't detail exactly how she would use the two-year fellowship, but said: "I want to be able to keep collaborating and keep working in new mediums."

​Other Victorian recipients include writer Alexis Wright and visual artists Gabrielle de Vietri​ and Emily Floyd​.