The second phase of A Season of Care, saw seven artists in residence during the first week of May.
The participating artists discussed and developed their practice though the lens of care over one week at Utp's home base in Bankstown.
Watch this space for updates along their journey.
READING LIST
The Care Manifesto by The Care Collective
Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
Institutional Attitudes: Instituting Art in a Flat World by Pascal Gielen
Another Australia by Sweatshop Literacy Movement
Growing Up Aboriginal In Australia edited by Anita Heiss
Growing Up Queer In Australia edited by Benjamin Law
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS
AIMÉE FALZON
Aimée (she/they) is a composer, singer, music producer and performer. She is of Maltese, Scottish and Libyan descent. She grew up in remote NSW, singing to cattle and in the small family choir her grandparents ran. She now lives on unceded Wangal land, western Sydney.
Aimée’s music has been described as haunting, fervent, cinematic and ethereal. Her varied experience in the arts brings a holistic and intersectional approach to her music making. Aimée is currently developing her debut full-length album, featuring collaborating musicians from Australia and Singapore, due for launch mid this year.
Recently, Aimée was co-composer/performer in 宿 (stay) at Sydney Festival. She composed for Juxta EARTH interactive installation, Bankstown Biennale. Composer and sound designer for NTofP’s Nothing. Aimée composed and performed the score for UTP and Sweatshop’s Sex, Drugs and Pork Rolls for Sydney Festival 2021. She was also the co-composer and lead musical performer for When The Tide Comes In (2016), a series of audiovisual performances at Carriageworks, Riverside Theatres and then online; Rizzy’s 18th Birthday at Carriageworks, which was adapted into feature film Riz that premiered at Sydney International Film Festival (2015); and outdoor live art work The Other Journey at Parramasala Festival and Ten Days on the Island Festival in Tasmania (2013). In the latter three works she was also the production designer and visual artist.
DEBRA KEENAHAN
Debra Keenahan (she/her) is an artist, psychologist and author. She has exhibited in both group and solo exhibitions and been the sole and co-author of a book, book chapters, articles and conference papers. Her work focusses upon the personal and social impacts of disability. Having achondroplasia dwarfism, Debra brings a personal insight to understanding the dynamics of interpersonal interactions and social structures that include/exclude the visibly different from equitable social relations. Debra’s work reflects the philosophy that the per-sonal is the political. Debra employs different mediums in her art practice to communicate with and engage people on difficult issues, encouraging empathy for the socially excluded.
TANIA KHOURI
Tania Khouri (she/her) (b. 1990, Oklahoma City, Ok.) is a multimedia artist examining embodied rituals and oral histories. Following familial lineages as a form of reclamation and tracking the movement of information, her work blends photography, video, sculpture, and installation to navigate the liminality of cultural hybridity. Khouri holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Parsons School of Design at The New School and a Bachelors of Fine Arts from the University of Oklahoma. She was a resident of The Hollows Art Residency in Brooklyn, New York, has been published in Photographer's Forum, Art&Education, TransCultural Exchange's Hello World, and Galerie Magazine online.
JU BAVYKA
Ju Bavyka (they/them) is a Kazakhstan-born artist, arts worker and (migrant) writer living on unceded Gadigal land, also known as Sydney. They are interested in the intersection of artistic and everyday research, and always on the alert for practices of hospitality and generosity, as well as labour conditions and survival tips. Their practice is both conceptual and social, focusing on the gallery as a site for dialogue and thinking – beyond modes of representation, to possibilities of being together and experiencing together. Their hands are busy — either with pen or gloves. They are a member of the non-profit artist and non-artist run initiative Frontyard Projects in Marrickville, Sydney.
IMOGEN YANG
Imogen Yang (she/they) is a freelance consultant with over 22 years of experience in arts management and collaborative project delivery, intercultural and inclusive arts practice, and a wide range of experience working in diverse cultural and community contexts, the NFP and government sectors. She founded Insightful in 2008, focusing on social justice, health equity and human rights initiatives and enhancing access to arts, culture and media for people with disability, specialising in audio description provision of access for people who are blind and vision impaired.
ALEX CRAIG
Alex Craig (they/ them) is a Queer Blind dance artist and maker. Exploring belonging, connection, identity and place, Alex works collaboratively, opening and holding space for a collective experience of dance and storytelling not centred on the visual.
Alex utilises choreography, poetic and score based texts, sound and creative Audio Description to create inclusive experiences that invite audiences to participate. They make work for live performance and for the digital space.
Most recently, Alex has been continuing development of collaborative Blindness centred dance methodologies which support non-sighted spatial navigation and non-verbal communication between dancers improvising together; through receiving a 2022 Critical Path research residency. They have also recently been working with Jeremy Lowrencev and Imogen Yang at The church Space Alexandria, continuing development of a work exploring home and belonging through the sharing of culture, language and lived histories. Alex is a member of the MindsEye collective, with collaborators Imogen Yang and Gabriela Green Olea. The collective is dedicated to creating inclusive participatory dance works which present unseen dance performances through visualization, Audio Description and embodiment. They are currently developing Mystery Call; a digital work which utilises conversation and written movement scores to create connections stretching across space and time.
NAOMI SEGAL
Naomi (they/them) is an artist attentive to vulnerable and interdependent forms of relation. This tends to materialise into zines, comics, drawings, text and objects.
Naomi joyfully holds a co-director position at Pari, an artist-initiative through which they have co-organised P2P Ngariung (2021-), Ash (2022) and Reading into Things (2023), and participated in Gudskul's pedagogical residency Sekolah Temujalar. As an independent artist their work has appeared in LIMINAL Magazine, Voiceworks Magazine, Emerging Writers' Festival, Free Association, Pari and more. Naomi is sustained by various supports including trauma therapy, peer work, collective/collaborative practice, queer study and friendships.
PAULA DO PRADO
Paula do Prado (she/her) is a visual artist working with various forms of tejido/weaving. Her practice surfaces the intersections of her African Bantu-Kongo, Iberian and Charrúan ancestral heritage. Her art practice is indivisible from her cultural and spiritual practice, her family and community relationships and the nature spirits (wetlands, rivers, salt and sweet water) and ancestral tree kin she is called to work with led by Lajau (Ombú), Jacaranda and Kapok. She holds a BFA, First Class Honours (Textiles) and a MFA (Research) from the University of New South Wales Art & Design. Her work will be included in the upcoming group exhibition A Soft Touch at Gallery 4A curated by Sophia Cai and the 5th Tamworth Textile Triennial 2023 curated by Carol McGregor. Paula is currently a PhD candidate at Sydney College of the Arts, The University of Sydney and an active member of the Sydney Indigenous Research Network.
PARTNERS AND SUPPORTERS
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body, through project funding.
This project has been assisted by Create NSW, through multi-year funding.