We acknowledge the Gadigal of the Eora Nation, the traditional custodians of the Country on which the Art Gallery of New South Wales stands.

Projections #2 + NIRIN: Spotlight on Khalik Allah

By Ruby Arrowsmith-Todd, curator, film
Video still of a child with clasped hands in front of the sea.

Still from Black mother

The second screening in our Projections series, on 29 August 2020 at the Art Gallery of new South Wales, featured the Sydney premiere of Khalik Allah’s Black mother (2018), followed by a performance by Black Birds.

Part film, part baptism, Black mother brings us on a spiritual journey through Jamaica. Soaking up its bustling metropolises and tranquil countryside, Allah introduces us to a succession of vividly rendered souls who call this island home. 

Black Birds is a Sydney-based co-operative which was founded in 2015 and is led by core members, Ayeesha Ash and Emele Ugavule. With each project, creatives are invited to collaborate on works that dissect and document the female non-Indigenous Black and Brown diasporic experience in Australia through art and performance.  

A person with medium-dark skin tone and closely cropped black hair wearing a single and a skirt. They are sitting on a fallen tree and holding a toddler close to them.

Still from Black mother, 2018