Biennale of Sydney

Question 1

Jumana Emil Abboud

Answer

Born 1971 in Nazareth, Occupied Palestinian Territories Lives and works in London, England and Jerusalem, Occupied Palestinian Territories Jumana Emil Abboud uses drawing, video, performance, objects and text to navigate themes of memory, loss and resilience. Her interests lie in oral histories, the investigation of personal and collective stories and mythologies, particularly, folk tales and their sites of being and unbeing. Her work has often reflected a Palestinian cultural landscape, in which the struggle for continuity amid the wider political context necessitates a constant process of metamorphosis and ingenuity.

Question 2

Hannah Donnelly

Answer

Hannah Donnelly is Producer, First Nations Programs at Information + Cultural Exchange (I.C.E.), Parramatta. Hannah is an award-winning Wiradjuri writer and producer interested in Indigenous futures, speculative fiction and responses to climate trauma. Most recently she was Head Curator of Aboriginal Programs at Carriageworks. She worked as a producer on Next Wave Festival 2018 and Laukatim Solwara AsiaTOPA 2017, and was also a lead artist in Refuge, an Emergency Relief Centre simulation produced and directed by Arts House and City of Melbourne. I.C.E., a partner for the 23rd Biennale of Sydney, is a community-based contemporary arts organisation situated on the lands of the Burramattagal people and clans of the Darug Nation and a territory linked to the historical and political significance of waterways in Australia.

Question 3

Dean Kelly

Answer

I am Dean Kelly and identify as a South Coast NSW Saltwater Yuin, Walbunja, Dhoorga Gurandji cultural man through my father, and Western NSW Freshwater stone country cultural Wailwan, Nypampai Man through my mother. I was born in Sydney NSW on Gadigal land in 1967. I am member of the Botany Bay Aboriginal Community and am also accepted as belonging to the La Perouse Aboriginal Community and a member of the La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council. I am a Cultural Practitioner who enjoys sharing my knowledge of Aboriginal culture & heritage, which has been passed down through my family for countless generations.

Question 4

Alexandra Spence

Answer

Alexandra Spence is a sound artist and musician living on unceded Wangal Country in Sydney, Australia. Through her practice Alex attempts to reimagine the intricate relationships between the listener, the object, and the surrounding environment as a kind of communion or conversation. Her aesthetic favours field recordings, analogue technologies and object interventions. Alex has presented her work in Australia, Asia, Europe, and North America including Vancouver Art Gallery; BBC Radio 3 & 4; Ausland, Berlin; Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow; Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid; Sound Forms Festival, HK; MCA ARTBAR, Firstdraft Gallery, Soft Centre and Liveworks Festival, with Liquid Architecture, Sydney. She has released her music with labels Room40, Longform Editions, More Mars (w. MP Hopkins) and Canti Magnetici.

Question 5

Dr Anne Poelina

Answer

Dr Anne Poelina is a Nyikina Warrwa Traditional Custodian from the Mardoowarra, lower Fitzroy River, in Western Australia. An adjunct Professor and Senior Research Fellow at the Nulungu Research Institute at the University of Notre Dame, Poelina has worked on issues of environmental and cultural protection in the Kimberley of Western Australia. Poelina is the Chair of the Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council, an organisation which brings together the Traditional Owners of the River to advocate for the right to life of the Martuwarra Fitzroy River.