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HOLDING SPACE 2026 – Rituals of Recriprocity – Land and Water Exhibition

Exhibition
2026

CuriousWorks warmly invites you to the launch of our major exhibition at Chrissie Cotter Gallery as part of the HOLDING SPACE 2026 – Rituals of Reciprocity – Land and Water program. As someone especially close to our organisation, we are sharing this exciting news with you first before our wider community.

Register

Time: 1-4pm
Date: Saturday, 24th of October 2026
Location: Chrissie Cotter Gallery, 31A Pidcock St, Camperdown Sydney. Access details can be found here. 

During the exhibition launch, you will hear from artists Rodaba Qureshi, Azarmidokht Elahi, and poetry by Fale Tumanu.

This will be followed by a selection of traditional Persian music featuring the tanbur, performed by Mahya Panahi, accompanied by vocalist Taba Ostad.

The event will be MC’ed by HOLDING SPACE curator Vandana Ram.

Rituals of Reciprocity – Land and Water explores First Nations, refugee, and culturally diverse understandings of land and water, aiming to share cultural and creative ideas centred around exchange and mutuality in and between communities.

This exhibition showcases a range of artworks and short films created by project artists and community members, engaged in residencies, creative developments and community based workshops.

Artists: Ali Rezvani, Aprille Asfoura & Ahmed Elkhalidi, Azarmidokht Elahi, Catherine Sarah Young, Fale Tumanu, Kirsten Maglalang, Kylie Colemane, Nicole Barakat, Rodaba Qureshi, Shiva Dadvar, Sivani Yaddanapudi, Sohrab Kolahdooz & Shervin Mirzeinali, duo: Jade Dewi Tyas Tunggal & Ria Soemardjo, and collective: Annabel Hom, Maggie Tra, San May & Sovanarry Chan. Learn more about them here.
 
This is a free event, however registrations are essential. Light refreshments provided. Please register by clicking the link here.

This exhibition is part of the HOLDING SPACE 2026 – Rituals of Reciprocity – Land and Water public program. To learn more about the public program including the showcases at the Sydney Opera House and workshops, please click here.

Rodaba Qureshi
Rodaba Qureshi was born in Kabul, Afghanistan. She completed her high school education at Kabul, Abul Qasim Ferdawsi High School and later graduated with honors from the Institute of Fine Arts and Industry. She pursued painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University, graduating with honors after completing a year of Turkish language preparation. Her work explores themes of identity, culture, and the resilience of women, expressed through symbolic and expressive imagery. She primarily works with oil paints. Currently based in Australia, she continues to develop her artistic practice and share her visual narratives.
Azarmidokht Elahi
Azarmidokht Elahi is an Iranian-Australian multidisciplinary artivist, educator, and community arts facilitator based in Sydney. She is the founder and creative director of HamAva Women’s Group, a community platform that brings women from diverse cultural backgrounds together through art, dialogue, and collaborative creativity.

With more than 25 solo exhibitions across Iran and Australia, Azarmidokht’s artistic practice explores themes of identity, migration, memory, gender, and human rights. Working across visual arts, installation, and participatory projects, her work creates spaces where personal narratives and collective histories can be expressed, witnessed, and shared.

Her practice is grounded in community engagement and socially responsive art. Through workshops, public programs, and collaborative projects, she works with culturally diverse communities, including migrants, refugees, and women navigating displacement and social change.
Azarmidokht’s work is deeply connected to ideas of belonging, reciprocity, and care. She is particularly interested in how artistic practices can connect people to land, memory, and each other while amplifying voices that are often unheard.

Alongside her artistic practice, she works as a community arts teacher with TAFE NSW, facilitating the Art and Connection course and creative programs that support cultural exchange, empowerment, and social connection.

Exhibition workshops + artist talk

Register

There will also be some free public workshops run by artists as well as an artist talk at the Chrissie Cotter Gallery.

You can find the full details and register your place by clicking on the 'Register' link above.

Save the date: Sydney Opera House Showcase

Our second major showcase event will also be held on Sunday, 1st of November 2026 from 2:30pm at The Studio, Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point, Sydney NSW 2000. Access details can be found here. 

Please save the date! We will have more information on this soon. Watch this space.

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 2026 HOLDING SPACE artists are Ali Rezvani, Aprille Asfoura & Ahmed Elkhalidi, Azarmidokht Elahi, Catherine Sarah Young, Fale Tumanu, Kirsten Maglalang, Kylie Colemane, Nicole Barakat, Rodaba Qureshi, Shiva Dadvar, Sivani Yaddanapudi, Sohrab Kolahdooz & Shervin Mirzeinali, duo: Jade Dewi Tyas Tunggal & Ria Soemardjo, and collective: Annabel Hom, Maggie Tra, San May & Sovanarry Chan.

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Our office is located on Darug land at Fairfield City HQ. We would like to acknowledge the Cabrogal Clan of the Darug Nation, the traditional custodians of the land. Our work takes us across Darug, Dharawal and Eora lands. Sovereignty was never ceded.