Artists:
Ryan Pola - He/him @ryanpola
Ryan Pola's work focuses predominantly on portraiture. Through his work he finds enjoyment and intrigue in trying to understand the human condition.
James Hale - He/him @jame.a.hale
James Hale is a queer artist living and working in Melbourne. James makes colourful text-based paintings on cardboard that stem from an examination of, and connection with, LGBTQIA+ intimacy and culture.
Taga Bario - They/them @taga.barrio
Taga Barrio is a multi-disciplinary artist.
Annie Solah - She/her @anniesolah
Annie Solah is a queer is a spoken word artist, raised in Western Sydney, who has been performing around Melbourne's spoken word scene since 2011. Her work often touches upon mental health, sexuality, the world of poets and poetry, as well as social issues. She is the Director and founder of Melbourne Spoken Word, and the Director of the Melbourne Spoken Word & Poetry Festival. Annie is also the SlamMaster and co-producer of Slamalamadingdong.
Ngino Amum - She/Her @nginoamum
Ngino Amum is a South Sudanese disabled queer artist and clothing designer located in the south east. Ngino is the founder and facilitator of the "Over the Rainbow" Collective and has been working with Connection Art Space for four years.
Jonathan Homsey - He/Him @johnnybgood.e
Jonathan Homsey is an arts maker and manager interested in the intersection of street dance, visual art and social engagement; he has a passion for community outreach using the moving body as a source of empowerment. Born in Hong Kong and raised in the United States of America, he immigrated to Australia in 2010 where his award-winning choreographic practice has evolved from a theatrical context to interdisciplinary installations across Australasia and Japan. Working with mediums from ceramics to augmented reality, Jonathan’s choreographic practice uses street and queer dance movement to inform his works that explore utopian worlds and emotional connection.
Gala Hallelujah - She/Her @galahallelujah
Gala Hallelujah is a sound shaman working in the mediums of voice and lyric to divine supernatural and otherworldly experiences for audiences. Having undertaken Indigenous and shamanic initiations from around the world, Gala embodies the space of artist as vessel, channeling presence and prescient information from what the artist calls the ‘most high.’ Embedded in the belief of the vibrational interconnectedness of all beings, Gala sees spiritually guided performance as inherently intersectional; capable of affecting an elevated form of transpersonal empathy between performers and audience.
Chelle De-stefano - She/Her @chelle_destefano_artist
Chelle De-Stefano is a Melbourne is a deaf visual artist born in and living in . I have been researching ways of informing through my arts practice the issues of oppression that have resulted in an angry and suppressed Deaf community, the suffering affects we are seeing today. My practice includes performance, video, textiles, installation and drawing, and these are often intersected into one body
Nevo Zisin - They/Them @nevozisin
Nevo is a queer, non-binary, Jewish writer, performer, activist and public speaker based in Naarm/ Birraranga / Melbourne. They run workshops in schools and professional development trainings in workplaces around transgender identity & language. Author of award-winning Finding Nevo, a memoir on gender transition and a contributor to Kindred: A Queer Australian Young Adult Anthology. They are a mentor for The Pinnacle Foundation, one of Out for Australia's 30 Under 30, an ambassador for Wear It Purple Day and the Victorian Pride Centre as well as a member of the Gender Euphoria cast - Australia's largest all trans & gender diverse show on a main stage.
Organisations involved with Unwrapped:
Headspace - headspace.org.au/headspace-centres/dandenong
Headspace is a youth mental health foundation that provides early intervention mental health services to 12 - 25 year olds, along with assistance in promoting young people’s wellbeing over 4 core areas: mental health, physical health, work and study support and alcohol and other drug services. headspace is a safe, youth friendly and confidential service, and we aim to help give people the skills to manage their symptoms so that they can live a happy and healthy life.
Connections Arts Space - connectionartsspace.org
Connections Arts Space Inc is a not-for-profit arts organisation based in Dandenong. We strive to promote arts leadership and participation in the community through our art exhibitions, workshops and volunteer programs.
Chisholm Tafe Dandenong - chisholm.edu.au
Chisholm Institute is one of Victoria’s premier public vocational education and training providers prominently placed across Melbourne’s south east. At Chisholm, we offer a wide range of art, design, and photography courses as well as over 250 certificate, diploma, advanced diploma, bachelor and graduate certificate courses. At Chisholm we celebrate and support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer or questioning students through our Chisholm’s Queer Connect program. The CQC program provides LGBTQIA+ students with a safe, respectful and fun space to connect
All The Queens Men (ATQM) - allthqueensment.net
ATQM is a radical organisation where everyone is welcome and space is created for voices less heard to be amplified. The Company is proud of its history of collaborating with diverse communities from the ground up and, over the past decade, has worked with a wide variety of people: rainbow ‘elders’ in dance halls; young people in schools and museums; LGBTI+ communities in city squares and public spaces; culturally diverse communities in parliament and council chambers; and inclusive communities in local halls and arts centres.
ATQM has become a leading creative voice within the LGBTI+ community nationally and internationally, most specifically for championing the rights of LGBTI+ elders. The Company’s practice, expressed through projects such as The Coming Back Out Ball, LGBTI+ Elders Dance Club and Rainbow Reviews, enables LGBTI+ communities improved access, not only to arts experiences, but to broader community health and social services.