IPF 2024 – Indonesia Photo Fair

It’s an honour to be one of the 77 artists from 31 cities across 9 countries invited to exhibit at the IPF 2024 – Indonesia Photo Fair this month at Galeri Emiria Soenassa & S. Sudjojono, Cikini, Jakarta, Indonesia.

A huge thank you and congratulations to the incredible team, including Fair Director Cristian Rahadiansyah, Tina Sindukusumo, Olivia Syafitrig and Andika Budiman, who have organised this fantastic festival; it is such a pleasure to work with you and be part of the fair.

Here are some exhibition photos by Sekelakfoto courtesy of IFP / JIPFEST. In the image above, you can see my three large black-and-white photographs currently on display.


IPF 2024 – Indonesia Photo Fair
5–8 September 2024
Galeri Emiria Soenassa & S. Sudjojono, Cikini, Jakarta, Indonesia





 
 
 
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My Return from the Arctic Circle Residency

I am back in Sydney after my incredible artist residency in The Arctic Circle.

I keep finding it challenging to put words to the last couple of weeks; at most times, it was beyond them.

I have a thousand stories and more I want to share, write down and hold onto. It feels like months, if not a whole year, compressed into this short period.

Time really is different up there; it’s stretched and distorted, and it’s not just because of the midnight sun. A day can feel like multiple, and then suddenly, it’s Friday, not Tuesday or maybe Wednesday, as you’d thought it was. Adding to that, the incomprehensible perspective between distance and scale makes everything feel wonderfully disorienting.

It has been a truly life-changing experience. A ship filled with the most incredible bunch of creative weirdos, some I know will be friends for life, sailing and exploring this ridiculous landscape that could be another planet. All of us getting distracted and excited by cool rocks, shifting light, icebergs that glowed this bright, brilliant blue, and fog so thick that the rest of the world disappeared, all while attempting to develop or create something that tries to capture this experience and moment.

While circumnavigating Svalbard, we explored uncharted waters and sailed up and made it to 82˚ North, where the photo below was taken surrounded by sheets of ice as far as we could see, miles from any land.

I am slowly easing myself back into reality, to buildings and streets filled with people and the existence of the internet again. I spent a few days in Oslo before the long journey back to Sydney, grounding myself by wandering the tree-filled parks – it was so strange and lovely to see trees again.
I am thankful for the time, people, connections, and experience.

I am back in the studio and am planning and preparing a couple of projects, including a solo exhibition next year at Penny Contemporary to showcase work from this residency.

 

Australian Cultural Fund 'ACF' logo with tagline 'Make Culture Happen' underneath, Inner West Council logo, and for Create NSW Government organisation, the NSW Government Waratah logo, which is has the text 'Supported by the' written above the Waratah.
This project is supported by the Australian Cultural Fund/Creative Australia, Inner West Council & Create NSW.

 

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I’m heading to the Arctic Circle for an Art and Science Residency!

I am excited to announce that I will be heading to The Arctic Circle in August to participate in The Arctic Circle Expedition: Art and Science Residency!

This is an incredible opportunity and an honour to be invited to apply and then be selected.
The Arctic Circle expeditionary residency program, established in 2009, is an annual expedition that invites international artists, scientists, educators, and innovators to live and work aboard an Arctic-class expedition ship and collectively explore the Arctic Archipelago of Svalbard, just 10 degrees latitude from the North Pole.

Yep, the North Pole! I will be literally on top of the world, creating art with a select group of remarkable artists and scientists!

This year is a special expedition that will, for the first time, circumnavigate Svalbard and navigate to the polar ice pack region on a 91-meter icebreaker with onboard studio and lab spaces to pursue creative projects on board and ashore.

This residency will undoubtedly be a career highlight. It’s an extraordinary opportunity to immerse myself in a truly unique and remote environment. I’ll have the chance to explore, research, collaborate with diverse international artists and scientists, experiment, develop, and create new work that further expands my practice, captures the isolated beauty of the Arctic, and raises awareness of its ecological significance. I can’t wait to share updates and outcomes from this experience! 

 

 

 

 

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The Good Lab – Artist Residency Update

 
Last night’s exhibition opening was fantastic, and an honour to be part of this with such talented artists while we are here in Chiang Mai together.

It has been a whirlwind of a week, with all 21 artists from across the world, with artists from here in Thailand, and from Indonesia, The Philippines, Portugal, Cambodia, Spain, Taiwan, the USA and fellow Australians, all getting to know each other and our practices, sharing ideas, inspirations, and already brainstorming together ways to collaborate on outcomes for week two.

We kicked everything off with an impromptu house party with the New Burma collective, then a welcome dinner together, and I believe on day two, we had a fabulous walking tour looking at the architecture of the people by the even more fabulous professor Ajarn Phuwa of Studiophuwa, which was so fascinating.

Two panel discussions in the grounds of Wat Chomphu Temple, on the re-invention of Public space in Chiang Mai, with Phwua, and remarkable artists Wave Weeratouch Pongruengkiat, and Krai Sridee, and Art for Air, a time for reflection, looking at the issues of the pollution crisis here, with insights of the work and research by artist Som Supaparinya, Worapoth Kongngern and Sasiwimon Wongjarin, founder and director of Studio 88 artist residency, where we also met a group of environmental artists also currently on residency here in Chaing Mai, with Sasiwimon.

Lucky for me, I also got to celebrate my birthday in the middle of this residency! So, on my birthday, we went to the Loft Cafe/Golden Land Solidarity Collective (what a beautiful space! I highly recommend if you find yourself in Chiang Mai) for a creative talk and panel discussion, ‘Aren’t We All Displaced?’ where we heard from the inspirational, Hnin Yee, the co-founder of Newburma Suchart, co-founder of Titang, Ganji of Triple Edge and Breanna, the founder of Golden Land Solidarity Collective, who are all actively doing so much for their communities, to support, empower, advocate and celebrate the culture and people of Myanmar and those displaced.

We then ended the evening with a screening on a rooftop of a Sudanese film, ‘Talking About Trees’, Directed by Suhaib Gasmelbari, which was hosted by Dude Movie, a film screening collective decentralising access to moving image. This was such a fitting location to watch this film, given the topic, where the filmmakers struggled to open and screen a film in an open-air cinema for their community.

Along with another screening of documentaries on Friday night of ‘Mother and Me’, by Setthasiri Chanaradpong, for its premiere in Northern Thailand, and Captial of Mae La, by Nuankhanit Phromchanya, which was followed by talk on the topic of displaced people, with the directors and Sorayut Aiemueayut, writer of ‘Becoming Melayu’, Walai Buppha, producer of ‘Mother and Me’ and curator of ‘Heard the Unheard: Remembrance of Tak Bai 2004, Hnin the co-founder of Newburma and Nuankhanit Belle Phromchanya, Director of Capital of Maela.

I have also seen and made friends with so many street cats, walked a ridiculous amount each day, so much so that my phone is confused by the increased step count. Shared and enjoyed incredible food and drinks with artists and locals while sharing stories and experiences. Heaps of live music and late-night adventures. Followed each morning by copious amounts of coffee as we have all tried to digest the intense week we have had over week one of The Good Lab residency by Micro Galleries.

And while I am still processing much of it, and I suspect I will be for quite some time, it has already inspired so much, and I am so thankful for the experience and the connections I am making here.
Today is a quiet and slower start, which is very much needed. After our opening last night and dancing the night away at a cool underground bar, I am currently in a van heading up the mountain with everyone to experience the last night of the Shambhala festival.
I am looking forward to the final week of collaborations and working with the community to reclaim an old alleyway into a more welcoming and safe space for the community. 

 

 

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ARTiFacts: Art For The Future

𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐢𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬: 𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞

A group exhibition at SOME SPACE Gallery, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Art from 17 international and local artists, live music from Triple Edge, Techinfolk, Anna Maria Olsson.
Co-curated by Micro Galleries and SOME SPACE and in partnership with Lanner, TEMPO.wav, Tomorrow.Lab, and Triple Edge, this exhibition is part of Micro Galleries’ The Good Lab program: a two-week guerrilla artist residency, knowledge-sharing, incubator, and community engagement initiative.
 
Exhibiting Artists:
•⁠ Dakarai Akil (USA)
•⁠ ⁠Yuni Bening (Indonesia)
•⁠ Kristine Buenavista (Philippines)
•⁠ ⁠Marrz Capanang (Philippines)
•⁠ ⁠⁠Noel Epalan Jr. (Philippines)
•⁠ ⁠Rhiannon Hopley (Australia)
•⁠ ⁠Miguel Jeronimo (Portugal / Cambodia)
•⁠ Lee, Chun-Tsung (Taiwan)
•⁠ Luigerman (Colombia)
•⁠ ⁠MediaLegal (Indonesia)
•⁠ ⁠Catherine O’Leary (Australia)
•⁠ Mandy Schoene-Salter (Australia)
•⁠ Sarah Sculley (Australia)
•⁠ Satita Taratis (Thailand)
•⁠ ⁠Uncle Joy (Indonesia)

Opening Night – 17th February: 
6 pm – 7.30 pm: Air on the move: A talk with campaigners + Activists 
7.30 pm – 8 pm: Meet the artists
8 pm – 10 pm: live music performances and visual jams by Triple Edge, Techinfolk, and Anna Maria Olsson
 
Artifacts: 𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞
SOME SPACE Gallery
124/4-5 Sri Poom Rd, Tambon Si Phum, Mueang Chiang Mai District, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand
17 – 24th February 2024
6 pm – 10 pm each evening

 

Exhibition Statement:

An artifact is a tangible object, made by a person, imbued with cultural, historical, or personal significance. It’s a concrete piece of the past that tells a story, sparks curiosity, and connects us to our roots. artifacts are vital because they preserve our heritage, teach us about our ancestors, and help us understand how societies have evolved over time. They’re like time capsules, offering invaluable insights into human ingenuity, creativity, and resilience.
 
At Micro Galleries, in 2024, we are making ARTifacts. These are objects made for the future. These are not merely objects of aesthetic beauty or historical significance; they are imbued with deeper meaning, serving as conduits between the past, present, and future. At their core, ARTifacts represent the fusion of creativity and purpose, as artists draw upon the rich tapestry of human experience and knowledge to craft items that offer hope, inspiration, and guidance for future generations to remember, learn and use to create a better future.
At the heart of the ARTifacts concept lies the idea of using art as a vehicle for storytelling to the future. Each ARTifact is a tangible manifestation of our collective memories, experiences, and aspirations. They serve as imprints of our journey through time, capturing the essence of what it means to be human in an ever-changing world, and to convey information from the past while simultaneously offering glimpses of a better future.
 
ARTifacts can have a practical utility beyond their aesthetic value. They can serve as tools for education, empowerment, and social change: catalysts for transformation.
 
At the heart of this exhibition lies a profound question: How can we meet the needs of all people within the means of the living planet? This question serves as our guiding light for all our 2024 programs, drawing inspiration from the principles of Doughnut Economics and its call for balance between human prosperity and planetary health. It is a compass that directs our journey towards a more equitable, sustainable, and harmonious future.
 
These 17 artists have created ARTifacts for you to explore and be curious about. They explore a diverse range of themes and present them through an even more diverse range of practices and cultural lenses. Capturing nature through urban aesthetics, harnessing technology to explore beauty, upcycled materials and illustrations to bring joy and playfulness, Afro-futurism through assemblage, small poems and books of hope and connection, photography that poetically captures our present which has our future kinetically embedded within it and new media art + augmented reality to propel us visually forward.
 
May you find moments of beauty, joy, and connection at SOME SPACE amongst these ARTifacts. And, when you leave, amidst the challenges we face, may you go forward with a renewed sense of purpose and commitment to changing the world…in small and creative ways.

 

 

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Midnight Rice Festival, Thailand

I’m excited to announce that Project/Forward will be featured as part of the program for the three-day Midnight Rice festival in Chiang Mai.
Since its beginning during the COVID-19 lockdowns, I have been involved as the digital director/creative lead and as an artist in Project/Forward, a festival that showcases moving image projections of artists around the worldFrom Friday, 24 November, through Sunday, 26 November, join ‘Kon.Kao.Yakoo Chang Moi’: the Midnight Rice Festival 2023, a contemporary celebration of Loy Krathong and the Midnight Rice ceremony at Wat Chom Phu in Chiang Mai, Thailand.


On the night of the full moon, from November 24-26, 2023, the people of Chang Moi will come together to celebrate the Yee Peng festival with a traditional rice pudding ceremony against the backdrop of their community temple, Wat Chomphu. Juxtaposed with traditional rituals, the young generation comes together for a blend of culture; multimedia art exhibitions of visuals and sound, a community market, karaoke, live music, and more. 

This festival is a celebration of community, culture, and creativity. It is a chance to experience the best of Chiang Mai’s traditional and contemporary offerings. — The blending, mixing, and stirring of the old and the new.


𝐌𝐢𝐝𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐑𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐅𝐞𝐬𝐭
𝟐𝟒-𝟐𝟓-𝟐𝟔 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑
𝐀𝐭 𝐖𝐚𝐭 𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐡𝐮, 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐨𝐢, 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐚𝐢

24, 25 November from 4 pm to 10 pm
26 November, 4 pm onwards until the morning.
– Rice blessing ceremony from midnight, and rice chanting ritual from 5 am

 
 
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Un[contained] Arts Festival

The Uncontained Arts Festival is back for another three days of fun and excitement for our community.  Last year’s event attracted over 30,000 people to the heart of Kogarah and, in 2021, was nominated for Best Arts Festival in the Australian Street Art Awards.


From Friday, 23 June, to Sunday, 25 June, the Festival will feature an array of immersive art installations, live performances, and mouth-watering food trucks.
It has been an absolute pleasure to be invited to work with Georges River Council and Hurstville Art Gallery and Museum to reenvision my work, Dinner’s Past, into a multi-sensory installation artwork that will transform the large foyer of Kogarah Library that leads out into the Town Square.

Dinners Past, is an immersive installation that explores remembrance and placemaking through projection, sound, and scent. By evoking memories of lost and past moments, both abstract and lucid, fond memories of shared meals with friends and family; the noise, the discussions, the disagreements, the quaint and peaceful moments, the celebrations and milestones, the installation creates a sensory experience that invites viewers to connect with the work with a sense of familiarity and remember those who have passed and continue to make new memories with those they love, connect with new friends, and others who are yet to join us at our dinner table.

Special thanks to Jocelyn Fullerton of Cult of Scent for her incredible expertise and collaboration in creating the scent. I invite you to take a seat at the table during the festival. 

Exhibiting Artists:
Pulsing Heart // Amy Claire Mills // Aaron McGarry // Nathan Starchild // UNSW Illuminate // Rhiannon Hopley // Curious Legends // Ox King // Darren Charlwood // Tim Andrew 
 
Un[contained] Arts Festival 
Kogarah Town Square, Belgrave Street Kogarah
Friday 23 – Sunday 25th June 2023
4.30 pm – 10 pm each evening

 

 

 

 

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Gilmore Park Public Art Project

I’ve been looking forward to sharing this one for a while!

I completed the artwork for this project nearly a year ago to the day, and thanks to Covid, there were delays and holds up with the construction and installation, but as of today, it is installed and officially open. A permanent public artwork for Wollongong City Council in Gilmore Park, Wollongong, covering their new accessible amenities block.

With this work, I wanted to explore place and placemaking, drawing inspiration from the native plants of the Illawarra area as a way of connecting our built environment to our natural surroundings.

After the devasting impacts of the bushfires, I wanted a way of reclaiming our bush landscape and focusing on the benefits that can come from bushfires for our native plants for their regrowth and rejuvenation. 

It was a pleasure to work with and be selected by Wollongong City Council for this project.
Photos courtesy of WCC.

You can read Wollongong City Council’s Gilmore Park Media Release here.

 

 

 

 

 

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60th Fisher’s Ghost Art Award

I am thrilled to announce that I have been selected for the 60th Annual Fisher’s Ghost Art Award 2022, at Campbelltown Arts Centre.

The prestigious Fisher’s Ghost Art Award coincides with Campbelltown’s annual  Festival of Fisher’s Ghost. Held over 4 days, the Festival dates back to 1956 and celebrates Australia’s most famous ghost – Frederick Fisher.
 
The 60th Annual Fisher’s Ghost Art Award Opening Night & Award Announcement will be held at Campbelltown Arts Centre on Friday 4 November, from 6.30pm.

Tickets to this event are extremely limited, if you would like to come along to opening night, you can book your tickets through the Campbelltown Arts Centre here: Opening Night Tickets
 
The exhibition will be open to the public from Saturday, 29 October until Friday 9 December.


More info:
https://c-a-c.com.au/
Fisher’s Ghost Art Award 
Opening Night –  4 November
Exhibition dates –  29 October  – 9 December

 

 

 

 

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