L-FRESH The LION and Gillian Kayrooz lead a lineup featuring Abdul Abdullah, Kate Blackmore, Tom Polo and more.
Western Sydney has spent decades being described by people who don’t live there.
Gillian Kayrooz and L-FRESH The LION think it’s time the people who actually call it home took over.
Their new exhibition, The Sky Between Us, opening at Campbelltown Arts Centre this weekend, turns everyday streets, parks and neighbourhoods into a living archive built from local memories rather than outside perceptions.
Created alongside emerging Campbelltown creatives Rose Bahatta, Rozana Dedovic, Japneet Kaur Saini (JAPI), Mariah Alone (RIAH) and Kingston L Vaaulu (K3ZRA), the project uses photography, film and sound to ask a simple question: who gets to tell the story of a place?
Instead of focusing on landmarks or postcard moments, The Sky Between Us captures the places that actually matter to locals. Through photography, film and sound, the exhibition builds a portrait of Campbelltown from the inside out, shaped by the people who know it best.
Alongside the new commissions are works by Abdul Abdullah, Abdul-Rahman Abdullah, Kate Blackmore and Tom Polo, creating a conversation between generations of artists exploring identity, belonging and place.
The centrepiece is Sky Archive, a collection of 100 photographs taken across Campbelltown and surrounding suburbs, each showing nothing but the sky above a location chosen for its personal significance. An accompanying audiovisual installation layers stories, field recordings and music by L-FRESH The LION into an immersive snapshot of life in Western Sydney.
It’s a simple idea, but a powerful one: if every place has a story, maybe the people who live there should be the ones telling it.
Head to Campbelltown Arts Centre for more info.
