Acknowledgement of Country

Dharug

Bayadyinyang budyari Dharug yiyura Dharug Ngurra.
Bayady’u budyari Dharug Warunggadgu baranyiin barribugu.
Bayady’u budyari wagulgu yiyuragu Ngurra bimalgu Blacktown City. Flannel flowers dyurali bulbuwul.
Yanmannyang mudayi Dharug Ngurrawa. Walama ngyini budbud dali Dharug Ngurra Dharug yiyura baranyiin barribugu.

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English

We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of this Land, the Dharug people, and their continued connection to Country.
We pay our respects to Elders from yesterday to tomorrow.
We extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples of Blacktown City where the flannel flowers still grow proud and strong.
We will walk softly on this land and open our hearts to Country as the Dharug people have for tens of thousands of years.

Credit to: Dharug woman Rhiannon Wright, daughter of Leanne ‘Mulgo’ Watson Redpath and granddaughter of Aunty Edna Watson

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Did you miss Latitudes at this year’s Sydney Festival? Now’s your chance to see it at The Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre.

Commissioned by Powerhouse Parramatta, Latitudes presents 3 short films featuring some of western Sydney’s most compelling artists.

A.Girl, BLESSED, Claire Cao, Eda Gunaydin, Gillian Kayrooz, Mo Aung, Nerdie (1300), Sela Vai, and Serwah Attafuah, come together to celebrate the thriving culture, rich histories and diverse landscapes of western Sydney. Watch as they navigate movement, music, and art to form an insightful series exploring themes of audibility, distance, and perspective.

A Subversus series commissioned by Powerhouse and directed by VERSUS (Tanya Babic & Jason Sukadana).

Viewers discretion is advised.
These films contain coarse language, adult themes, references to drug use and strobe lighting.

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Films

151⁰E

151⁰E

Exploring the need to travel and the formation of identity as an artefact of this process. Focusing on themes of distance, travel, and journeys, this film features prose by Claire Cao, visual art by Gillian Kayrooz, and music by BLESSED.

Sometimes to One Hundred

Sometimes to One Hundred

A lonely protagonist wanders Western Sydney, monitoring the audio levels of various everyday occurrences. Exploring what it means to give voice and to listen in all its messy and wonderful forms, this film features prose from Eda Gunaydin, animation by Serwah Attafuah, and score by Nerdie (1300).

Window

Window

Perspectives shift when lenses tilt. Playing with physical and metaphysical concepts of perspective, this film features spoken word from A.Girl, choreography by Sela Vai and score by Mo Aung.

Creative team

Powerhouse is the largest museum group in Australia. It sits at the intersection of the arts, design, science and technology and plays a critical role in engaging communities with contemporary ideas and issues. Powerhouse is custodian to over half a million objects of national and international significance and is considered one of the finest and most diverse collections in Australia.

VERSUS/Subversus is an independent director duo Tanya Babic and Jason Sukadana. Known for pairing striking visuals with a commitment to authentic storytelling, VERSUS crafts compelling films with a particular focus on music, documentary and the arts. Whether directing the Wu Tang Clan or rural Australian publicans, Tanya and Jason have forged a career in bringing these sensibilities to a broad range of screen work. This has resulted in award-winning films for international giants like Nike, Google, Airbnb and Youtube and homegrown heroes like Sydney Opera House, The Australian Ballet, Carriageworks and Powerhouse Museum.

Subversus is a Sydney based creative studio, committed to presenting new voices and perspectives through multi-disciplinary collaborations.

Hinenuiterangi Tairua (aka A.GIRL) is a singer, songwriter and rapper has blown up on her local hip-hop scene in just 3 years, leading the new guard of young artists coming out of Sydney’s west. A.GIRL’s silky-smooth vocals over fresh hip hop beats and R&B jams have powered her breakthrough singles Play, All Over YouWe Them Boyz, and 2142. She was swiftly named Next Big Thing at the FBi Awards, won triple j Unearthed’s festival slot at Listen Out, and was heralded by UK’s Wonderland as a rising star.

Angus Lin (Nerdie) is a Korean/Australian producer, vocalist, DJ and composer merging hardcore, KPOP, techno and pop. He is one fifth of 1300, a Korean rap supergroup known for their raw energy, emotion and creativity. Nerdie and 1300 are quickly making waves in the world of internet rap with their slick production, electronic-fused, sweat-doused instrumentals, original multi-lingual lyrics, expressive beats, and genre bending chemistry.

Ghanaian-born artist BLESSED is taking over the scene, amalgamating all that he loves in music: from RnB to gospel, punk, lo-fi. This multi-talented singer, rapper, guitarist, and producer is carving a distinct sound that has attracted collaborations with AMAARAE, The Kid LAROI, and multiple songs featured on the Netflix series On My Block. Breaking the barriers of what traditional hip hop should look and sound like, BLESSED has recently released his debut album AUSSIE BLACKSTAR which he launched at the Sydney Opera House for VIVID 2022.

Claire Cao is a writer, editor and critic who  lives and works in south-west Sydney. She is currently the film editor for The Big Issue and the 2022 New Critic for Kill Your Darlings. On screen, Claire has written for the feature film HERE OUT WEST, has edited fiction for Voiceworks, was mentored at MIFF’s Critics Campus 2019 and was runner-up for the LIMINAL Fiction Prize.

Eda Gunaydin is a Turkish-Australian essayist and researcher who works across academic nonfiction, creative non-fiction and memoir. Interested in class, diaspora, and race, you can read her debut collection of essays Root & Branch: Essays on Inheritance, or find her work in the Sydney Review of Books, Meanjin, and The Lifted Brow. She is a finalist for the Queensland Literary Award and the Scribe Non-Fiction Prize

Gillian Kayrooz’s practice reflects on notions of history, place, and community. Her installation, video and photographic work has been shown extensively in solo and group exhibitions across Australia, including spaces such as Firstdraft, Casula Powerhouse, Artspace and MAMA (forthcoming). Kayrooz has undertaken artistic residencies at Chengdu Academy of Fine Arts, the Sapporo Tenjinyama Artist Studio, the Tokyo ARTnSHELTER precinct, and Parramatta Artists’ Studio.

Mo Aung is a Burmese/western Sydney based musician creating a unique sound with intricate hip-hop and innovative beats. Mo has worked with INQ and wildflower, and last year he released his first solo EP, Marionette, which he describes as “…a response to the current political climate in Burma but through the process, it has also been a discovery of self and has brought a closer connection to my origin”.

Tongan-Australian movement director Sela Vai is internationally recognised for her distinguishing choreography and empowering presence. Sela’s credits and clients include Apple, MECCA, CADA, the A-League, T-Kay Maizda and Young Franco, Thelma Plum, Ngaiire, No Mono, Milan Ring, BloodMoon and more. She’s performed as part of Dream Dance Company; Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne Fringe; PACT House: Temple; and presented at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. She is the founder of HUMXN and a recent presenter at TED X.

Serwah Attafuah (Wrathis known for her surreal cyber dreamscapes and heavenly wastelands populated by afrofuturistic abstractions, and is soaring to astral heights. Collaborating with Charli XCX and Paris Hilton; clients like Mercedes Benz, Nike, GQ, and Adobe. Her recent projects include Natively Digital, a Sotheby’s curated NFT auction, and Apotheosis, a live motion capture experience with Soft Centre at the Sydney Opera House.

Image Credits:

Image: Video still from Sometimes to One Hundred courtesy of Powerhouse
Video still from 151E, courtesy of Powerhouse
Video still from Sometimes to One Hundred, courtesy of Powerhouse
Video still from Window, courtesy of Powerhouse
A Subversus series commissioned by Powerhouse. Directed by VERSUS (Tanya Babic & Jason Sukadana).
Featuring the works of A.Girl, BLESSED, Claire Cao, Eda Gunaydin, Gillian Kayrooz, Mo Aung, Nerdie (1300), Sela Vai, Serwah Attafuah

I’m an Artist

I’m an Artist

Blacktown Arts supports artists through annual opportunities across prizes, exhibitions, funding opportunities, and studio spaces for local creatives.

Learn MoreI’m an Artist
Blacktown City Art Prize

Blacktown City Art Prize

Blacktown City’s annual acquisitive art prize open to artists across Australia, with a prize pool of over $23,500.

Learn MoreBlacktown City Art Prize

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