Area Discourse: To Represent

Join us for a discussion with artist Gillian Kayrooz and Claire Dillon, art historian, and contributor to Khaled Sabsabi’s Venice Biennale catalogue the companion. Gillian and Claire met at this year’s Venice Biennale and have taken their experience of the Biennale and Khaled’s work as a springboard for sustained, critical conversations. You are invited to hear their reflections on the experience of the Biennale, considering who and what is represented, how we navigate these vast international exhibitions, and what we take away from encountering art across different cultural and geographic contexts. Area Discourse is a conversation series where artists from Western Sydney and beyond unpack their work as it relates to political, social and cultural events, past and ongoing. Visit our website for more information on the program. About the artists: Gillian Kayrooz and her art practice were nurtured on unceded Dharug land in Guildford, Western Sydney and is deeply rooted in alternative methods of truth-telling through image-making. Working across photography, video and participatory practice, her work foregrounds collective memory, everyday life and community resilience while challenging dominant forms of representation. She was awarded the 2018 Create NSW Young Creative Leaders Fellowship and has exhibited extensively in solo and group exhibitions across Australia. Kayrooz has held a studio tenancy at Parramatta Artists’ Studios and served as Co-Director and Co-Chair of Firstdraft from 2021–2023. In 2024, she was announced as the recipient of the Create NSW x Artspace Visual Arts Emerging Fellowship. In 2025, she became a member of the Create NSW Youth Network and contributed to the Create NSW Western Sydney Creative Plan. In 2026, she was selected as lead artist alongside L-Fresh the Lion for the ReVITALise Public Art Commission with Campbelltown City Council, and is exhibiting in And Still I Rise at the Art Gallery of NSW. Recent acquisitions by the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Powerhouse Museum and Western Sydney University mark a significant milestone in her practice. Claire Dillon is an art historian and public scholar specialising in the arts of the Mediterranean region and the Islamic world. Her research investigates how objects, images, and ideas move across cultural, religious, and political boundaries, and how these complex histories of exchange are represented and reinterpreted in the present. Alongside her historical research, Claire studies how the past continues to shape contemporary art and culture. Her work brings art history into conversation with current questions of identity, memory, and belonging. Through her writing, teaching, exhibitions, and public programmes, she explores connections between medieval and contemporary societies, in dialogue with artists, curators, educators, and broader audiences. She holds a PhD in Art History from Columbia University and is based in New York, on the unceded ancestral land of the Lenape people. Cover artwork by Eddie Abd with edits by Celine Cheung Support Utp's work by donating here Utp is raising funds for AusArts Day – Donate by 22 October to have your contribution doubled by Creative Australia. Utp (Urban Theatre Projects) is a charitable institution and all donations over $2 are tax deductible. Sign up to our newsletter to receive the latest updates.