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HOLDING SPACE 2025: Rituals of Welcome Sydney Opera House Showcases

Presentation/performances
2025

HOLDING SPACE is a three year annual program of artistic commissions, creative developments, workshops, public programs and events that aims to provide a provocation and a forum to share cultural and creative ideas, experiences, understandings and learnings centred around belonging and community connectedness. In 2025, the theme was Rituals of Welcome. Learn more about the 18 artists here.

On the 28th of November 2025, in the Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House, the Rituals of Welcome showcase unfolded over three parts – Part 1 – Performance: Connection and contemplation; Part 2 – Artist Panel: Ancestral practices, rites and ceremonies in contemporary life; Part 3 – Community Celebration. Shervin Mirzeinali's short film Rhythm of Speech was also playing on a loop throughout the day. You can view it here.

The artists explored how rituals can bring together traditional practices and modern responses, helping to foster connections within and between different cultures and communities. The artists also delved into themes like the environment, traditional healing practices, and connection to the land, with some being developed in close collaboration with refugee communities.

Scroll down to see how the day unfolded. 

These events were part of the HOLDING SPACE 2025: Rituals of Welcome showcases, which unfolded over three days and at two locations. To learn more about the second showcase event that was held at the Community Refugee Welcome Centre, please head to this link here.

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Part 1 – Performances: Connection and contemplation
Wendy Qi Zhang & Vishnu Arunasalam

Tea Time for Soft Bodies 
Tea ritual led by Wendy Qi Zhang

Wendy hosted a meditative tea workshop that began with a ceremony inspired by the Chinese Gong Fu ritual, a gentle invitation into presence. From there, we journeyed through a fusion of Chinese herbal blends and local native botanicals, exploring the textures of taste, scent, and story. Held in a shared atmosphere of quiet reflection, the session offered a multisensory path into inner listening, softness, and connection with one another.

Evoking Vanakkam
Dance ritual led by Vishnu Arunasalam

Drawing upon Tamil philosophy, which sees the body as an amalgamation of elemental forces intricately woven with nature, Vishnu explored this belief by embodying these elements – air, fire, water, earth, and space. As a non First Nations artist, Vishnu's initimate dance ritual utilises movement as a way of deepening his connection to Country. In doing so, he not only acknowledges the land, honouring both the place and his presence within it.

 

About Wendy Qi Zhang
Wendy Qi Zhang is a Chinese Australian artist and technology researcher based on Darug land in Western Sydney. Her practice is rooted in Daoist philosophy, Buddhist meditation, and cyberfeminist thought, exploring healing through emerging technologies. Wendy works across digital media, projection, and interactive installations to explore identity, collective care, and diasporic belonging.
About Vishnu Arunasalam
Vishnu Arunasalam works with mediums of dance and film, drawing on his cultural identity of Sri Lankan Tamil and his training in Bharathnatyam to make sense of his experiences and the world around him. Vishnu has been exploring the views of rituals in the ‘urban world’ as essential for collective wellbeing through its ability for inclusion.
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Part 1 – Performances: Connection and contemplation
Wendy Qi Zhang & Vishnu Arunasalam

Part 2 – Artist Panel: Ancestral practices, rites and ceremonies in contemporary life
Jacinta Tobin, Wendy Qi Zhang, Hosna Saif, Paula do Prado & Vishnu Arunasalam

Moderated by CuriousWorks's Senior Creative Producer, Vandana Ram, the artist panel was a rich conversation that dived into the role of rituals of welcome, exploring First Nation and culturally diverse ancestral and contemporary practices, their meaning and relevance in our world today. What do rituals offer us as transformative processes, that encourage connectedness within and across cultures and communities, human and non-human? 

 

About Jacinta Tobin
Jacinta Tobin is a Musical Educator of mixed race from the Boorooberongal and Cannemegal freshwater Darug clans from Greater Sydney with European blood. Jacinta has over 25 years worked in community, government and non-government organisation and has received many awards for her service. Jacinta received her master’s in Social Ecology in 1999 from Western Sydney University and has a Doctorate called “Ngura Barayagai Song Belonging to Country” at The University of Sydney 2025. Jacinta believes when we speak or sing in language, we are massaging Country. Jacinta believes that there is an old science of knowledge that needs re-awaking for her community and Country’s healing through Songline revitalisation.
About Wendy Qi Zhang
Wendy Qi Zhang is a Chinese Australian artist and technology researcher based on Darug land in Western Sydney. Her practice is rooted in Daoist philosophy, Buddhist meditation, and cyberfeminist thought, exploring healing through emerging technologies. Wendy works across digital media, projection, and interactive installations to explore identity, collective care, and diasporic belonging.
About Hosna Saif
Hosna Saif is an artist originally from Afghanistan, now living in Australia. She is currently studying law whilst exploring her passions in art-making. She is dedicated to making a difference through both her creativity and her future legal career.
About Paula do Prado
Paula do Prado is a visual artist, researcher and creative workshop facilitator working with various forms of tejido (weaving) based on the sovereign lands of the Gadigal and Bidjigal people. Born in Uruguay on the lands of the Charrúa Nation, she migrated to Australia in the mid 80s. Her art practice surfaces the intersections of her West African Bantu-Kongo, Iberian and Charrúa ancestral lineages. Her art practice is anchored in the Abya-Yala concept of cuerpo-territorio-espiritu (body-land-spirit) and sentipensante (feel-thinking) pathways that are indivisible from her cultural and spiritual practices, her family, community and beyond-human kin relationships. Paula’s work has been exhibited in national and international group exhibitions, including the VIMA Cyprus Art Fair 2025, Limassol; Indian Ocean Craft Triennial (IOTA), 2024, Perth, Western Australia; The 1st and 5th Tamworth Textile Triennial touring exhibition; Tiwani Contemporary, London; Textile Biennial Rijswijk, 2019, The Netherlands; Bankstown Biennale: Sub Terrains 2022, Bankstown, and 4a Centre for Contemporary Art, Sydney. In addition to her own arts practice, Paula works as an artist in community and has previously worked with Spinifex Hill Studio Artists in Port Hedland, Wester Australia and is currently working with the GUL Collective, part of the Multicultural Women’s Hub, a program initiative of Arts and Cultural Exchange (ACE) Parramatta. Paula holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts, First Class Honours (Textiles) and an Master of Fine Arts (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 and the Sydney Environment Institute.
About Vishnu Arunasalam
Vishnu Arunasalam works with mediums of dance and film, drawing on his cultural identity of Sri Lankan Tamil and his training in Bharathnatyam to make sense of his experiences and the world around him. Vishnu has been exploring the views of rituals in the ‘urban world’ as essential for collective wellbeing through its ability for inclusion.
About Vandana Ram
Vandana brings deep experience in community-based arts practice and cultural development to CuriousWorks.

Vandana has been directly involved in the growth of community cultural development as a practice in Australia – helping to shape and advocate for it as an embedded practice for artists and communities. Specifically, she has over 20 years of expertise working in the arts for Western Sydney, most recently as the founding Director of Bankstown Arts Centre, as well as extensive experience in curation, policy, arts management, and public art, developing successful community partnerships along the way.

She is also a practising visual artist exploring migration, and colonisation as well as the histories and geographies of Western Sydney.
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Part 1 – Performances: Connection and contemplation
Wendy Qi Zhang & Vishnu Arunasalam

Part 3 – Community Celebration
Jacinta Tobin, Metin Yilmaz + Damian Wright & Guillermo Robayo Gómez + Black Feather Circle

The community celebration was a beautiful way to end the night. MC’d by Sydney Opera House's Community Engagement Manager, Wanyika Mshila, it was a gorgeous evening of music and dance featuring:

Music by First Nation artist Jacinta Tobin

Jacinta believes when we sing in language, we are massaging Country. Accompanied by her guitar and vocals, she explored via song – the belief in an old science of knowledge that needs re-awaking for her community and Country’s healing through Songline revitalisation.

Cross-cultural collaboration with Metin Yilmaz and Damien Wright

Metin Yilmaz on Bilur/Kaval (Kurdish/Turkish flute) and Damian Wright on flamenco guitar brought together two distinct yet deeply rooted musical traditions in a poetic dialogue of strings and breath. 

Influenced by the storytelling tradition of Kurdish Dengbej, the improvised and meditative sounds of the kaval blended seamlessly with the rhythmic complexity and emotional depth of flamenco guitar. 

This performance offered a contemporary interpretation of ancient forms—where tradition met innovation, and two musical languages found common ground through dialogue, spontaneity, and shared expression.

Dancing with the Roots from Guillermo Robayo Gómez and Black Feather Circle

Dancing With The Roots was a performance that awakened a deep sense of Latin American identity and belonging. Guided by the wisdom of the elders, we discover that we are all one — and one is all. Born from community gatherings between Latin American elders and the new migrant generation, it weaved the invisible threads that unite us, reminding us where we come from and where we are going. Each gesture was inspired by a word, a memory, a teaching from an elder — the voice of a new generation reconnecting with its roots, finding strength, identity, and belonging through movement. Presented by the art collective Black Feather Circle.

Team Members:
Guillermo Robayo Gómez – Artistic Director & Creator
Cristina Tacuri – Co-Creator & Choreographer
Mónica Rojas – Coordinator
Sebastián Alegría – Visual Artist
Evelyn Almeida – Dancer
Andrea Tacuri – Dancer
Diana Benavides – Dica – Musician
Patricio Almeida – Elder
Adriana Diaz – Makeup Artist
Carlos Velandia – Sound Editing
Gabriel Toro – Sound Mixing

 

About Jacinta Tobin
Jacinta Tobin is a Musical Educator of mixed race from the Boorooberongal and Cannemegal freshwater Darug clans from Greater Sydney with European blood. Jacinta has over 25 years worked in community, government and non-government organisation and has received many awards for her service. Jacinta received her master’s in Social Ecology in 1999 from Western Sydney University and has a Doctorate called “Ngura Barayagai Song Belonging to Country” at The University of Sydney 2025. Jacinta believes when we speak or sing in language, we are massaging Country. Jacinta believes that there is an old science of knowledge that needs re-awaking for her community and Country’s healing through Songline revitalisation.
About Metin Yilmaz and Damian Wright
Metin Yilmaz stands as a masterful voice of the Kaval — the ancient, breath-born flute whose haunting tones echo across mountains through centuries of Anatolian and Mesopotamian tradition. A devoted disciple of the legendary Ustad Sinan Çelik and Osman Aktaş — pioneers of Turkey’s Kaval revival and sonic innovators in their own right — Metin carries the torch of a deep-rooted musical lineage. Of Kurdish heritage and born in Turkey, his journey has unfolded across borders and continents. From the villages of Kurdistan to the stages of Europe and Australia, he has carved a path as both a revered performer and an inspired recording artist. For over a decade, Metin was based in Cologne, Germany — a crossroads of culture — where he brought the ancient sound of the Kaval into dialogue with global traditions. He graced German television, the Cologne Jazz Festival, and stages across Europe, blending the earthy soul of his roots with the language of contemporary music. This is not merely music. It is a journey—carried on the breath of the past, unfolding into the present, and calling us toward something eternal.
 
Damian Wright is an ARIA nominated Flamenco guitarist. Damian recently released his debut album “Shifting Sands” (ABC Music) which was The Sydney Morning Heralds ‘Pick of the week’ where it was described as “Glorious guitar playing”. Damian was invited to perform as a solo artist at The Rajasthan International Folk Festival, INDIA and in 2016 performed at The Shanghai Fringe Festival, CHINA. Damian’s ensemble BANDALUZIA was invited to perform at the biannual Adelaide International Guitar Festival curated by Slava Grigoryan & was a soloist at The Sydney International Guitar festival in 2017 & 2018. BANDALUZIA was awarded "The Pick Of the Sydney Fringe" at The Sydney Fringe Festival and performed to a sold out Sydney Opera House Concert Hall as an invited artist to TEDX Sydney 2014. BANDALUZIA has headlined The International Gypsy Music Festival, Sydney, The Global Carnival and is on Musica Viva's national touring program. In 2010 Damian received a development grant from the Australian arts council to study flamenco guitar in Spain with Pepe Justicia, where he spent five years. Damian has recorded with ensembles RASA DUENDE & THE TRANSLATORS on ABC/Universal and Jazzgroove Records and his compositions have been played on ABC radio national and ABC Classic FM. "Damian Wright is a brilliant flamenco guitarist...Wright showed what a captivating solo player he is on his own "In Time", and elsewhere his articulation of complex lines was fluid and dripping with conviction" - John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald.
About Guillermo Robayo Gómez
Guillermo Robayo Gómez is a multidisciplinary artist working across film, performance, and community-based projects. He holds a Film and TV degree from the National University of Colombia and received scholarships from the British Council and Fundación Carolina to study at Anglia Ruskin University (Cambridge, UK) and complete a Master’s in Fine Arts at Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha (Cuenca, Spain).
 
He has presented at the Museo Reina Sofía (Madrid) with his performance Sombras Sonoras and produced award-winning works with his company La Casa del Árbol Films, including the queer series Devuélveme La Noche! (Give Me Back the Night!), premiered at the Berlin Series Festival, and Airuna, an animated series inspired by Indigenous Latin American cosmogony, awarded Best Animated Series at Cusco Web Fest.
In Australia, Guillermo founded Black Feather Circle, a multicultural artistic collective creating innovative projects with migrant and IBPoC artists. During his residency at PYT Fairfield, he developed The Call of Fire, a multidisciplinary project exploring ancestral memory with Indigenous and Aboriginal elders from Latin America and Australia.
 
Recognised among NSW’s top 20 cultural leaders by Diversity Arts Australia, he was selected to participate in the Shifting The Balance Leadership Program. Guillermo also received funding from DARTS for the art exhibition The Call of Fire, presented at Tortuga Studios, uniting migrant and established artists to explore intergenerational identity. He has also been part of PYT Fairfield’s 2025 Ensemble, the StoryCasters Program, and serves on the Fairfield City Arts Advisory Committee. His latest work, Dancing with the Roots, supported by CuriousWorks and awarded the Creative Communities Grant from Fairfield Council, continues his commitment to collaborative, cross-cultural artistic practice, with the final presentation of this project to take place at the Sydney Opera House.

 

CREDITS

HOLDING SPACE is funded by the NSW Government through the Multicultural NSW COMPACT Program. Our project collaborators are SSI’s Community Refugee Welcome Centre located at Callan Park, Lilyfield, and Community Partners Sydney Opera House.

The 2025 HOLDING SPACE artists are Damon Amb, Elizabeth Jigalin, Ezra Mukendi, Hosna Saif, Jacinta Tobin, Jessica Tobin, Justine Youssef, Kumari Abeydeera, Maryam Hosseini, Oonagh Sherrard, Paula do Prado, Shervin Mirzeinali, Shyamla Eswaran (Bindi Bosses), Vishnu Arunasalam, Wendy Qi Zhang, Metin Yilmaz, Damian Wright, Guillermo Robayo Gómez & Black Feather Circle.

All photos were taken by Damon Amb.

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