Priyanka Bromhead is an eela thamizh writer, antidisciplinary artist and recovering teacher who lives and works on Darug land.

Priyanka has worked with young people across south west and western Sydney for fifteen years, having reclaimed curricula in English and HSIE classrooms.

Her experience within middle and high schools has since taken her into the tertiary system as an educational consultant, namely University of Technology and University of Newcastle on developing anti-caste and anti-racist teaching and learning experiences for young people and adults alike.

Priyanka is also an arts and cultural worker and has worked in various creative spaces leading community engagement strategies, facilitating arts initiatives and building cross-community solidarity. She is the lead facilitator of Reframing Autism’s Intersectional Advisory Committee.

Priyanka is committed to radical peace and radical love.

Image: Priyanka Bromhead by Kas

Raneen Shamon is a visual artist born in Iraq and based in Sydney, Australia. She studied Visual Arts at the University of Sydney and has been exhibited in several group shows, including Future Proof at Blacktown Arts, and Settled/Unsettled at Manly Art Gallery & Museum. She strives to connect with audiences and spark conversation about issues that inspire her art.

Image: Raneen Shamon, courtesy the artist

Stan Florek is a local Blacktown artist and archaeologist born in Poland. His practice has spanned many mediums including pastel on paper, printmaking and painting. In his recent work, Stan experiments with combining charcoal and oil paint on canvas. He greatly appreciates the formal qualities of an artwork, yet his work is almost always stimulated by and entangled in narratives.

Stan previously exhibited work in the Blacktown City Art Prize and has been involved with various Blacktown Arts programs including Open Studio. In 2019 Stan was a recipient of the Creative Arts Fund.

Image: Stan Florek, courtesy the artist

Uncle Greg Simms is a respected Aboriginal Community Elder of Mount Druitt and the greater western Sydney region, with ties to the Gundungurra (water dragon people) of the Blue Mountains and the Gadigal (whale people) of the Dharug nation.

Uncle Greg is an activist for reconciliation, a traditional woodcarver, a storyteller and an Aboriginal cultural educator. He always engages young people and Elders in his processes, championing intergenerational knowledge sharing and understanding. In December 2021, Uncle Greg received an Honorary Fellowship from Western Sydney University in recognition of his role as a leading educator of Aboriginal culture, and for his contribution to Western Sydney University.

Image: Uncle Greg, Elders in Residence by Eliya Cohen, Mosca Media Australia.

Uncle Danny Eastwood is descended from the Ngemba group of Western New South Wales. His mother came from Brewarrina and he was born and grew up in the Eora area of the Gadigal Nation. For the past 43 years, he has been a proud member of the Darug area of Western Sydney.

As a painter and cartoonist, he has produced numerous works which tell the story of his people and Country, including his contributions to Koori Mail over the last 30 years and his public art which can be found all over Sydney.

In 1992, Uncle Danny won the NSW NAIDOC Award. He shared the National NAIDOC Aboriginal Artist of the Year Award, receiving 1st prize in the NSW Parliament Award and the NAIDOC Poster Award in 1993. Uncle Danny is responsible for building and making the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander War Memorial to honour Aboriginal service people at the Anzac Memorial, Hyde Park, Sydney.

Image: Uncle Danny, Elders in Residence by Eliya Cohen, Mosca Media Australia.

Uncle John Farrington was born in the town of Young, part of the Wiradjuri Nation, the people of the 3 rivers. He was taken to Sydney at the age of 9 along with his siblings and put into the custody of the NSW Government as a Ward of the State. He has lived and worked in Sydney since and connected with the people of the Dharug Nation as he struggled to find family, his roots, his identity and his connection to Country, which is now linked to the Gamilaraay People through his father.

Uncle John has been active in sharing his stories and experience through Dharug community meetings and gatherings. Through this space, he shares his remarkable life and his continual journey to find family and reconnect. He loves to share documents as well as photos that he has discovered on his quest for answers. Uncle John loves to meet people, tell them his stories and share his Culture, while highlighting and encouraging the strength and survival spirit that may help others to overcome the past.

Image: Uncle John, Elders in Residence by Eliya Cohen, Mosca Media Australia

Uncle Wes Marne AM is a Bigambul man and community elder who has lived in Mount Druitt for the past 45 years. He is a storyteller, poet and custodian of his grandfather’s Creation and Dreamtime stories.

Uncle Wes is a published author, and has toured his work at Sydney Festival (2016), Yirramboi First Nations Arts Festival (2017), Way Out West Children’s Festival at Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre (2017), and recently he published Through Old Eyes (2022), his first book of poetry for his 100th Birthday. In December 2022, he received an Honorary Fellowship from Western Sydney University for service as an educator and champion of Aboriginal culture; an advocate for vulnerable young people and a pillar of the greater western Sydney community.

Uncle Wes comes from a long line of storytellers and has been working with children, primary and high schools, universities, gaols, social housing and justice to share his love of culture and stories throughout all the community.

Image: Uncle Wes, Elders in Residence by Eliya Cohen, Mosca Media Australia