Urban Theatre Projects

During one-week digital residencies, 6 Utp artists will engage in exchange with a collaborator who holds knowledge in an area of interest to them. At the end of the week they will open up their digital space to share their learnings with audience via video and podcast presentations.

Episode 1 - Jagath Dheerasekara in conversation with Neha Kale (June 30 2022)

KEY CREATIVES

Jagath Dheerasekara in conversation with Neha Kale

Emele Ugavule in conversation with Steev Laufilitoga Maka

Debra Keenahan in conversation with JulieMc McNamara

Gillian Kayrooz in conversation with Cindy Trinh

Feras Shaheen

KEY DETAILS

June - November 2022

EMELE UGAVULE

Emele Ugavule is a Tokelauan Fijian storyteller. Her research and practice area of interest is Oceanic Indigenous-led storytelling, working across live performance, film, tv & digital media as a writer, director, creative producer, performer, educator and mentor.

JAGATH DHEERASEKARA

Jagath is an Amnesty International Human Rights Innovation Fund Grant recipient. He lives and works in southwest Sydney. He was forced to leave Sri Lanka due to his political and human rights activism and was granted political asylum in France in the early 1990s. His multidisciplinary practice is chiefly informed by his personal and collective memory and the incidents of fragility of the principles of humanity. 

GILLIAN KAYROOZ

Gillian Kayrooz is an artist from Western Sydney. She holds a Bachelor of Visual Arts (First Class Honours) from Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney. In 2018 she was awarded the Create NSW Young Creative Leaders Fellowship which led her to exhibit internationally in the Asia-Pacific region.

DEBRA KEENAHAN

Debra Keenahan is a visual artist, psychologist, academic and author. Her achondroplasia dwarfism informs her art, teaching and writing by focussing upon the personal and social im- pacts of disability. ... Currently, Debra lectures at Western Sydney University in Humanitarian and Development Studies.

FERAS SHAHEEN

Feras Shaheen’s art practice spans across performance, semiotics, street dance and digital media. Shaheen was born in Dubai to Palestinian parents and moved to Sydney at the age of 11. Drawing from his Hip Hop dance background as well as Palestinian cultural dance traditions, Shaheen traverses different roles within the arts, working as a performer, teacher, choreographer and digital artist. He holds a Bachelor in Design from Western Sydney University (2013) and in addition to his artistic practice works as a freelance graphic designer, photographer and videographer.

IMAGE CREDIT

Akil Ahamat

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