The Places We Call Home

Last month, we launched a unique project in Merrylands, Western Sydney called The Places We Call Home. Commissioned by Stockland Merrylands, this exciting photo-storytelling mentorship and exhibition project has been crafted for emerging artists, inviting them to explore the local community's experience of The Places We Call Home.

We were grateful that so many people took the time to share their images and words with us. We know (from personal experience) that deciding to apply for opportunities like this takes precious time and energy and we are so grateful that so many did.

Selecting the 8 artists from the application pool was challenging. We spent more time than expected reading, re-reading and carefully thinking (and over-thinking) about each of the selections.

Today, we’re thrilled to be able to announce the successful applicants. Congratulations to this group of inspiring emerging artists. We look forward to embarking on an immersive image making journey together.

Tugba Demir (She/Her)

Tugba is a 22-year-old artist who grew up in South-West Sydney working with photography from a young age. Her artistic practice is inspired by her Turkish Muslim heritage and upbringing, incorporating her experiences and beliefs into the work she creates. Tugba has previously shot in portraiture and fashion photography, and is more recently working on a creative approach to her artistic practice.

Inspired by creating a feeling of shared experience with an audience, she aims to create work that can relate to a community but also create conversations around different religious and cultural traditions and beliefs.

Jeyne Wade (Jane Asher, She/They)

Jeyne Wade is an emerging photographic artist based on the unceded land of the Cabrogal people working across photography, video and installation after recently completing a Bachelor of Design in Photography at UTS. Previously touching upon culture, memory, simulacra and identity, her practice explores diverse issues of import, firstly interrogated through her personal lens. Currently, Jeyne's work is centered on communal surrealism as an understandable response to certain collective memories.

As of now, Jeyne is currently a co-director at Pari and has been a part of several group exhibitions heavily linked to her academic life. These spaces include the Art Gallery of NSW, Tamworth Regional Gallery, Airspace Projects, Babekuhl Gallery, and the Gaffa Gallery.

Ibrahim Intwari (He/Him)

Ibrahim Intwari is a Rwandan Visual Storyteller based in Auburn. Through his passion for poetry, he has been inspired to transform his and others stories into other mediums of storytelling such as photography and filmmaking.

Ibrahim picked up a camera out of curiosity to explore how he could capture stories and connect with people from different cultures and backgrounds. Through his work, he hopes to inspire fellow artists to create timeless stories that inspire them. Ibrahim’s creative process starts with first writing it, then visualising it and then creating it.

Jana Ibrahim (She/Her)

Jana is a 22-year-old emerging artist and photographer based in Western Sydney. Her work is characterised by her passion for creating art that captures the beauty of the world and people around us through her lens. Jana’s photography draws inspiration from her Australian Lebanese culture and the vibrant people of Western Sydney where she grew up. Her style of photography is explorative and quirky yet detailed and refined where she strives to capture the essence of a place or moment in time.

Dorothea Lange, August Sander, Shirin Neshat and Hiroshi Sugimoto are a few of many photographers which have and continue to inspire her work. Like the aforementioned photographers, Jana aspires to create work with a captivating sense of narrative, evoking the rich stories that permeate the world around us.

Cassandra Li (She/They)

Cass Li is an emerging writer and filmmaker with an experimental personal documentary practice. Raised in Western Sydney, Dharawal country, her essayistic work explores her lived experience as a second generation Australian with Timorese Chinese heritage.

Cass is passionate about experimental, compassionate and collaborative modes of storytelling. Her research and practice in first person documentary filmmaking explores Asian Australian identity, hybrid realities and the representation of self. Her first film, "the sign of a frog" (2022), was screened at Antenna Documentary Film Festival as part of the Best Australian Shorts competition.

Saarah Hanif (She/They)

Saarah Hanif is an Australian-born Fiji-Indian from Western Sydney and holds photography as her main creative practice. She resides and creates art in Western Sydney that implements both South Asian and Australian influences. Her most recent work “Whispers and Tea” delves into the complex identities of the Queer and South Asian communities. Saarah has completed a diploma in Photo Imaging and is currently undertaking a Bachelor Of Business in Marketing.

Alessandra Femanias (She/Her)

Alessandra Femenias is an emerging artist from Western Sydney. Her work is inspired by the city she grew up in, her family, friendships, conversations with strangers and the menial routine of her daily life. She is rarely found without her guitar or camera in hand.

Femenias makes indie rock music under the name Aless Arias. She has released two songs and accompanying music videos to date – Evolve and 45 Hours. With swirling guitars and laid-back vocals, her music is a nostalgic reflection on her life so far. She is also a member of Parramatta-based New Age Noise Collective, a community of Western Sydney female identifying and non-binary artists.

Amy Piddington (She/Her)

Amy believes that everyone has a story and that stories are at the heart of being human. Stories help us relate to one another whilst making sense of the world. Amy is a photographer, world wanderer, and committed bookworm. In high school, Amy would spend my lunch breaks developing film in the darkroom, but it took another ten years for lightning to strike via an epiphany, propelling her to do what she loves full-time.

Photography drives Amy to explore new places and to connect more deeply with the people and environment around her. It fuels her curiosity, motivating her to see what’s around that corner, revealing subtle and beautiful moments. Amy’s life’s mission is to move through this world, photographing and sharing meaningful stories.

When Amy is not photographing she loves connecting with other humans in a genuine way, dipping in the ocean, and tending to her pot plants.