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Western Terrace: Wrapped Around the Sun
We gathered at sunset for herb harvesting, performance, creative workshops and sound installations grounded in collective practice curated by Marian Abboud.
Marian’s family home faces west and is nurtured by olive trees and parsley fields. There is more green space than built structures. The garden has been the main source of food nourishment and connectivity. Every season, Marian’s family turns the soil, plants the seeds and waits for the new harvest.
Curated by Marian Abboud, Wrapped Around The Sun looks at traditional harvesting processes and how we sustain both ourselves and community. You are invited to join in the ritual and intimacy of Marian’s family gatherings reimagined on the Western Terrace. Expect the joy, fluidity, chaos and silliness present in impromptu family visits. Infused by music sounds, performance and intuitive workshops that connect to collective practice, Wrapped Around The Sun is an opportunity to reconnect with the sun and each other.
We were joined on the night by:
+Sisters Marian, Susan, Carol, Georgina, Angela, Sonia, Michelle in a Collective Parsley gathering workshop and performance
Brothers Majdi and Seraj Jelda sharing Palestinian songs and music.
Helen Guliana Performing original poetry in Arabic/English
Faith Chaza Bending sound and language with built synth
The Seed of Hope Collective Sharing delicious homemade food from Morocco, Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon
an.othercollective Community sisterhood workshop
Jamil Lahoud Lino printing workshop love and resistance
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Image credit Garry Trinh
Marian Abboud is a multi-disciplinary socially engaged artist of Lebanese heritage. Living and working on Darug Land. Marian works across various technologies to create collective narratives through projected images that feed into performance, installation and site-specific works. Marian uses multilingualism through movement, video, sound and text to develop live performance. Navigating themes of memory, loss and resilience. Her interests lie in oral histories, ancestral knowledge and collective mythologies. She has exhibited extensively locally and nationally and has collaborated on many dance, performance and knowledge exchange projects including Gudskul’s Sekolah Temujalah at documenta 15, Volume at the AGNSW, Mona Foma Hobart, 24 Frames, Carriageworks, FCMG, Granville Art Centre, Pari, UTS Library and Not Her Reflection, a travelling performance at Artspace. Marian has been appointed as one of the Artistic Directors for Next Wave 24-25 she will be mentoring and collaborating with artists and communities to create alternative learning opportunities. Marian has been successful as one of the studio artists for PAS Granville Artists Studios 24-25.
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Marian and Sisters+++ has been a long development of collective sharing through women on the matriarchal bloodline. They are in constant motion trying to absorb, harvest and archive what it means to be the new generation of Aunties that hold family and cultural practice.
Marian and Sisters+++ will be running a parsley gathering workshop and performance as the sun sets on Darug land.
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We would like to acknowledge the amazing women from the Seed of Hope Collective who meet once a week at Think +Do Tank to exchange knowledge, art and skills. They will be making a delicious selection of gluten-free vegetarian food from Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria to share with us on this beautiful evening.
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Brothers Majdi and Seraj Jelda are highly experienced, Palestinian artists who recently arrived in Australia from Gaza. Bringing their instruments (oud and riq) on their backs all the way from Gaza, they are both ready to connect with new communities through music.
They will be playing a set dedicated to Lebanon and Palestine and will accompany the +Sisters in a performance.
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Having grown up in Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa, Faith is a writer and sound artist with works spanning music, stage and prose. Some of their written work can be found in Itch, Aerodome, and The Ghost Eater and Other Stories collection. They wrote for and directed Bodies - a stage production which premiered at Sydney Writers Festival in 2018 and most recently served as the music director for the Sounds/Words Block Party in 2021. Faith is a member of the Western Sydney based writing collective – The Finishing School
Faith will be performing a synth set that responds to working in collaboration with +Sisters
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Helen is a Iraqi multidisciplinary artist based in Western Sydney. Her passion for writing and poetry stems from a deep desire to reconnect with her cultural roots and family heritage. Currently, Helen is working on a bilingual collection of poems in both English and Arabic. Through her writing, she captures the nuances of everyday life, weaving together her multilingual abilities to express a rich, layered perspective on the world around her.
Helen will be performing new spoken word in Arabic and English
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Jamil Lahoud is a Lebanese artist creating on Cabrogal land. He works with themes of identity, culture, and social politics, predominantly in the practices of printmaking and drawing.
Jamil will be running a screen printing workshop with some of his original designs please feel free to bring tote bags or material A4 in size to print on.
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A sisterhood of creatives, navigating faith, identity & culture.
The collective is an open platform that gathers and weaves the diverse perspectives of individuals and communities to dissolve colonial barriers and reductive misconceptions on matters associated with faith, politics, identity, art and culture.
An.Other Collective is hosting a pop-up florist - with a twist ! Petal Pals is an opportunity to share words of wisdom, hope, joy, resistance, and strength, presented in a stem, petal, or bouquet! All skill levels, languages and ages are welcome.