Ancestral Words

Meet the Artists

• Host: Kuti Kalo

  

  Kuti is a Sudanese multi-disciplinary artist based in Melbourne. He is a photographer passionate about capturing moments that tell stories to transcend time. Kuti is a fashion enthusiast who deeply values the ability to express himself through personal style. Kuti has established an online platform called Down and Dirty TV. The heart behind Down and Dirty TV, as Kuti describes, is a space that champions local artists and creatives from Black and POC communities. Kuti is a strong advocate for mental health and is committed to destigmatising mental health within his community through education and awareness.

• Idil Ali

  

  Idil Ali is a proud Somali woman raised by the East African community in the Carlton flats. A settler on unceded Wurundjeri land, Idil embeds her belief in freedom, sovereignty and resistance into her work as a creative, youth practitioner and community organiser.

• Jidu the Creative

  

  A young Creative exploring the world unlearning all that he knows, allowing his imagination to create and learn through creative expression. Spent majority of his time in Sydney from not enjoying writing to becoming the author of Fear of Beginning where he shares some of his experiences in intriguing poetic ways. A seeker of truth wanting understanding trauma, being a ghetto therapist. 

• Laniyuk

  

  Laniyuk is a Larrakia, Kungarakan, Gurindji and French writer and performer. She has been published nationally and internationally in poetry collections such as Solid Air (2019) and Fire Front (2020), in the 2022 speculative fiction anthologies Unlimited Futures and This All Come Back Now as well as in literary and culture magazines online and in print. She has been awarded multiple writers residencies and was shortlisted for Overland’s 2018 Nakata-Brophy poetry prize. Laniyuk runs poetry workshops, moderates panel discussions and has given guest lectures at ANU and The University of Melbourne. She is currently completing her first collection of work to be published through Magabala Books.

• Noah daCosta

  

  London-born and Naarm-based poet Kofi C. (real name Noah daCosta) an introspective storyteller with a unique vantage point of himself, people and world for his young age. With a blended cultural heritage and a nomadic life experience (living in England, the US and now Australia), Kofi C. is constantly seeking to depict, translate and comprehend through spoken word.

• Rhoda Nyakor Makur

  

  Rhoda Nyakor Makur is an unapologetic South Sudanese multidisciplinary artist living on Wurundjeri country. They are interested in exploring ways in which de-colonised practices of art and psychology can be used to address and heal intergenerational trauma and trauma resulting from institutional racism and other “isms” her communities experience. Rhoda believes in the healing power of words, both written and spoken.