Western Terrace: Deep Roots: Shared Plant Stories

Paula do Prado is a visual artist, researcher and workshop facilitator based on the lands of the Gadigal people, working with various forms of tejido (weaving). Born in Uruguay on the lands of the Charrúa Nation, she migrated to Australia with her parents as a 7 year old in 1986. Her art practice surfaces the intersections of her West African Bantu-Kongo, Iberian and Charrúan ancestral lineages. Her practice-led research is indivisible from her cultural and spiritual practices, her family and community relationships including beyond-human kin. She holds a BFA First Class Honours (Textiles) and an MFA (Research) from the University of New South Wales. She has recently completed a practice-led PhD at the University of Sydney and is a member of the Sydney Indigenous Research Network.

Alisha lives in Parramatta with her husband and beautiful son. Originally from Pune, India, Alisha completed her schooling in Nigeria in a diverse multicultural family. She graduated in Computer Engineering and worked in that field for a while before moving to Poland with her husband. They relocated to Australia in 2019. 

Alisha loves travelling and discovering new places to learn about their cultures and history. As a full-time mother, she truly cherishes this phase of her life as it’s allowed her to meet some incredible people.

Being the only child in her family, she was very close to her maternal grandparents. Growing up, she listened to their stories, and feel their blessings are still with her. Art has always been a part of her life, thanks to the wonderful mentors in her family. Since joining the Gul Collective in February 2023, Alisha has delved passionately into the world of textiles and botany, reminiscing on her memories of flowers and plants from the various places she calls home. She has perfected her artistic skills while creating innovative and intricate art pieces to reflect her moving storytelling

Aarya migrated to Australia from India with her family in 2024. She has completed a master degree in Education and has worked in the banking sector for many years overseas. She plays the violin and enjoys listening and playing Indian Hindi music. She loves experimenting with different artistic mediums such as drawing, paper craft art and more recently discovered her new interest in textiles, mainly crochet and embroidery with the Gul Collective.

Anamika is a proud native of Bihar in India and came to Australia in 2012 with her husband and two children. She has completed a degree in Information and Technology in India. Anamika has strong ties to her ancestral home where she had learnt various traditional art forms including Madhubani art, which she has been practising since her childhood. She has received numerous awards for her Madhubani paintings. She has also learned embroidery and sewing from her mother, who in her own words “will always be her first and best teacher”. She is an accomplished embroiderer who uses various traditional Indian styles of stitches to embellish sarees, dresses and bed covers. 

As an artist and facilitator, she works with various arts organisations such as ACE, Community Hubs and the Art Gallery of NSW and continuously thrives to inspire other women to use their creativity and cultural heritage to express themselves.

Since joining the Gul Collective in 2023, she has learned and grown her artistic skills by enhancing her own intricate designs and contributing by sharing her vast plant knowledge around natural remedies, traditional ways to use herbs and plants in her cuisine and gardening advice.

Daphina was born in Australia to a Bulgarian father and Australian mother. She lives in Western Sydney and used to work in the community and mental health sector. Daphina has always been interested in art and culture, attending Bankstown Poetry Slams, exhibitions at various galleries and cultural events in Western Sydney and beyond. 

Since joining the Gul Collective in March 2024, Daphina has learned so many different types of crochet and embroidery techniques while exploring her own artistic style. Being part of Gul Collective has been an incredible learning curve for Daphina who values the newly found friendships and the immense knowledge shared around culture and plants. Daphina is retired and shares her time between her beautiful granddaughter and the Gul Collective artwork making sessions.

Duaa Alamin was born in Iraq and moved to Australia in 2002 with her family. She has a Master in Biomedical Science. As a medical scientist, she focused on science and pathology but always had an interest in creativity and handmade artwork. Being a mother of two, Duaa is very busy with her sons’ education and enjoys sharing her passion for art with them. Duaa first joined the Gul Collective in October 2023, falling in love with crochet and knitting having no prior skills except for the school embroidery classes. She finds her peace and joy in the collective while describing the crochet as a stress reliever. She is dedicated to this newly found passion and loves experimenting with new crochet techniques while exploring the aesthetics of flowers and plants around her by using more colours in her artwork. The Gul Collective has enhanced her artistic skills and connected with like-minded artists.

Najat is a swimming enthusiast, a green thumb gardener, an expert on natural health remedies and a busy grandmother of 5! She came from Lebanon with her husband in 1977 and has lived in Merrylands since. She worked as a beautician and as a hairdresser. She has completed a number of TAFE courses and certificates. She completed her HSC in 2017 and was the youngest student there. She loves trying her artistic flair at everything her hands touch, be it knitting, embroidering or crochet. Since joining the Gul Collective in March 2023, she has enjoyed learning new techniques with her friends, sharing her love of plants and gardening. 

Her dream is to go back to university and study naturopathy. 

Her motto in life is to keep her mind and body active.

Patricia was born in Lebanon and migrated to Australia with her family in 1990. She studied Fine Arts at Western Sydney University and completed a Certificate 3 in Signwriting and in Design at TAFE. Being a busy mother of four beautiful sons and a grandmother of one baby girl, she still finds time to explore different artistic mediums, whether it’s transforming old jeans and curtains or set designing scenery for the church’s stage. She’s an expert at upcycling by using old materials to give them a new artistic purpose. She spends her time between looking after her family, painting, writing poetry and creating complex woven textile-based art works. Since joining the Gul Collective in October 2023, she has developed her knitting and crochet skills and revived her love for plants from her childhood memories rekindling with her Lebanese roots.

Sousan lives in Parramatta with her family. She migrated to Australia from Iran in 2013. Sousan is a professional dressmaker, she designs and sew evening and bridal dresses. A busy proud mother of three and a grandmother of fiver beautiful grandchildren, she spends her time between her lovely garden, yoga classes and being creative with crochet and knitting. Since joining the Gul Collective in 2023, she has shared her expert advices with the group and her knowledge of weeds and plants.

Vinita was born in India and migrated to Australia with her husband in 2001. She holds a degree in Pharmacy and a post grad in Business Administration. She has worked with companies offering varied products and services, such as pharmaceuticals, telecommunications and insurance. Since she was blessed with two beautiful daughters, she has been enjoying motherhood and taking care of her family. She likes to keep her brain stimulated by participating in different skills enhancing workshops such as sewing, embroidery and crochet. She has been actively participating in the group since early 2024 and considers it her "GUL family", having made great friendships along the way. Vinita has produced intricate textile based artwork while exploring the fascinating world of botany through this project.

Yamane Fayed is an experienced trilingual creative producer working extensively in the community and cultural development sector. Yamane holds a Master in French Literature and taught French Literature in Lebanon. Since coming to Australia in 2005, she has worked as a freelance facilitator of digital and traditional storytelling across Western Sydney. Her love for children’s literature enabled to develop her expertise in working as an educator in multicultural playgroups and a librarian facilitating storytelling and story extension programs for children. In 2013, she became a food tour guide with Taste Cultural Food Tour running cultural food tours throughout Sydney connecting food and people to promote cross cultural understanding.  
Since 2016, Yamane works for A.C.E. as the producer of the Multicultural Women's Hub program up skilling and supporting women in setting up their own creative enterprise. She is passionate about working and engaging with diverse communities in Western Sydney through the medium of arts and creativity as tools for social change.