MAV has a profound commitment to arts and artists shaping the narratives that define who we are as a multicultural nation.
Meet the artists and communities
Photographer
Emiliano Fernandez is an Argentinian photographer. He studied Forestry and Fine Arts at Universidad Nacional de La Plata; and photography in the Argentinean School of Photography. In 2008, he left Argentina to travel and experience other cultures and have worked and lived in different countries, including New Zealand, India, Myanmar, Thailand, Germany, Australia. As a result of the years living abroad, in 2011 he produced a photographic body of work -“Los Vínculos” (The links)-, curated together with Marcos Zimmermann, a renown Argentinean photographer. This work has been awarded with the first prize for Latin American author in Montevideo, Uruguay by the Centro de Fotografía and made into a publication. His goal as a photographer is to create awareness and new ways to connect, protect and respect the natural environment. He has received a scholarship in Cologne, Germany; and participated in art residencies, artist book and curatorial workshops in Berlin and Cologne.
Painter and Visual Artist
Anthony Bertucci is a Melbourne based painter/visual artist. He was born and bred in Campbellfield, to Italian immigrant parents Francesco and Teresa and then in his teens moved to Roxburgh Park. He was a creator and performer from a very young age and went onto performing arts and corporate careers all the while producing art for Design firms, Private collections, Display Homes and exhibiting in Group and Solo shows. Inspired by Natural landscapes, Ethereal spaces and places of transcendence, his paintings are vibrating with splashes of colour, layered movement and subconscious mark making. Abstract expressionism and spirituality have always been an inspiration for Anthony’s work which has been evolving over 2 decades and the latest collection delves into languishing landscapes, space travel and abstract microcosmos . Bertucci himself says,” There is a constant dialogue happening between me and the art I’m producing, it’s a tug of war between perfection and imperfection. Somewhere in the middle is where I want to be with my art, to honour the majestic imperfections of life and nature and the obscured beauty all around us”
Artist
Yelena Ashlapova’s art practice emerged as an outcome of life journey. Her art is a personal expression of her emotions. Mostly working using acrylic and oil paint, she is interested in connecting philosophy, science and art in her work, which are translated in abstraction or figurative styles. She has received awards for Best entry at Bridgewater Exhibition 2017 and Hume Art Award 2018.
Not For Profit
Indian Care is a not-for-profit organisation set up in 2014 dedicated solely to address the welfare needs of Indian origin people in Victoria.
Writer and Screen Producer
Nikki Tran is a writer and screen producer living and working on Wurundjeri land. Her screen career began with community arts, and she has since been working to bring a deeper sense of cultural nuance and place into Australian narrative stories. Her online credits include CEEBS, GIRL, INTERPRETED, and FRESH! Nikki also co-created and produced ABC’s factual series CAN YOU HEAR ME? Nikki is currently a development coordinator of scripted drama at Fremantle Australia. She has cut her teeth in scripted development working with ABC Drama & Comedy, Matchbox Pictures, Tony Ayres Productions and VicScreen as one of the inaugural recipients of the 2019 VicScreen Screen Development Internship. Nikki’s creative practice has previously received support from Footscray Community Arts’ West Writers and Malthouse Theatre's Writers' Development program, AFTRS Talent Camp, University of Melbourne’s ACMI X residency and State Library of Victoria’s Creative Fellowship. She holds a Bachelor of Media and Communication (RMIT) and Master of Producing (VCA). As a mentor, Nikki hopes to provide support and guidance for story development, funding and/or pitching projects as well as advice on developing a career in TV.
Writer, Director and Producer
Jessica Li is a Melbourne-based writer, director and producer. Her career is fostered by training from the Australian Writer's Guild, Howard Fine Acting Studio and Swinburne University. Her short film, Mother Tongue, made its Australian premiere at the Melbourne Women in Film Festival in 2021, where it was the recipient of both the Best National Next Gen Film Award and the Programmer’s Choice: Best Victorian Next Gen Film Award, as well as the Critic’s Choice Award. Other accolades include receiving Best Drama at Freshflix Festival in Sydney and Best Emerging Filmmaker at the Setting Sun Film Festival. Mother Tongue is now streaming on SBS On Demand. In addition to writing and directing her own work, Jessica crews extensively - predominantly working within the producing, assistant directing, scripting and casting departments. Jessica's directing and casting work is heavily informed by her early acting background. In 2018, she was cast in Ric Forster's webseries, Flunk, which received Screen Australia and VicScreenfunding for its third and fourth season, set to go into production later this year. She is currently developing a long-form project while working full-time as a Production Coordinator. As an Ahead of the Curve mentor, Jess hopes to show the mentee how to develop projects as a multi-hyphenated creative.
Explore the works
Pasifika TOA
Triumph Over Adversity is a digital series by Pasifika TOA featuring Victorian-based youth, of diverse backgrounds, who chose to share their real-life stories in order to raise social awareness, promote cultural understanding and support youth expression. Moreover, amid a Covid affected world, Triumph Over Adversity is a youth outreach initiative that connects our youth and community together. All who participated in this series did so with the hope that their story may help others who may be going through similar experiences.
Camp Mana
Camp Mana and the scheduled time it was meant to run, fell victim to COVID and the recidivism of its young participants. However, a contingency plan was made to develop, produce and deliver an engaging online program despite the circumstances. To grand success, a productive online program was delivered over 14 days, with daily mentorship, creative writing workshops, music soundtrack development, filmmaking and photography. Camp Mana (Online) shape-shifted into a short film project we have called 'Unlocked', a collaboration and collection of anonymous stories, poetry and spoken word from BIPOC youth who have been in and out of the justice system. Unlocked has now inspired a long-term film and music production to capture young peoples stories over the next few years.
Ana Maria Gomides
claustrofobia is about the refusal to forget the violence perpetrated on my ancestors for my skin to reach its lightness. It’s about reminding myself and others that white colonisers failed in their calculated attempt to erase entire races of people, while the world at large encourages us to forget. re-telling our histories and stories is an act of defiance.
Matisse Laida + Nisha Hunter
We Eatin’ Good! Is a collaborative food and cooking platform dedicated to amplifying young Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous and People of Colour. With a focus on highlighting QPoC creatives, both on and off-screen, we aim to uplift the diverse community we as the curators of the platform are a part of.
Vanessa Estrada
Cancion de despedida, the song chosen to create this piece of work is an intimate and personal experience, which tells my story of love, farewell, letting go and moving on. It is the story of a woman having to overcome a rupture, a loss, being away from home. It is a story of resilience that I needed to tell through image as well as music. and movement, as I wanted to express the feeling with my whole body and create a real ritualistic experience of healing and empowerment. The song itself is a South American rhythm which mixes elements of the Chilean cueca and Argentinean Chacarera, since the moment I decided to produce a video, I had the idea of including the dance and the handkerchief as a symbolism of my own culture. With the director (Gabriela Gonzalez), and the choreographer (Kathleen Gonzalez) we explored the ideas of different and symbolic ways of saying good bye to a loved one. Through empowerment, movement, and specific elements of my own culture in the clothing, accessories and choreography. We had weekly meetings with Kathleen Gonzalez (choreographer) to produce the choreography, we studied the elements of the "Cueca" and the "Chacarera" dance, we created our own version of them and incorporated contemporary movements. We decided to use the hood and handkerchief symbols as a way of representing the "letting go" and "liberation" feelings. With Gabriela Gonzalez (director), we had weekly meetings to decide the location (Blue lake in Bundoora) and work on the script, the story, the outfits, the art. Gabriela and I share a strong connection with my story, and we knew what we wanted to express, therefore it was easy to make decisions. Neisha Smith did a fantastic work in creating the outfits and having an incredible input in the art of the project. The rest of the production team did an amazing work in understanding the needs of the work, the expectations and the sentiment in general. I am very thankful of every single person involved in this project. This work exceeded all my expectations, I am incredible grateful for receiving the support to create this beautiful piece of art. This project gave me healing, a voice, a space and opened so many new doors in my artistic career. I am extremely happy to be one of the artists of AHEAD OF THE CURVE program and have this extra support to exhibit my work alongside many other amazing local artists. Its so important for us independent artists to have this spaces and opportunities. Thanks to MAV and my amazing team for making this possible and believing in my art.
Madhubani Dutta
This project is aimed to bring back the focus on simple pleasures and findings in life that can restore mindfulness and harmony. During the pandemic, we were stuck in the house for months with no hope of what the future awaited and the only thought most of us had was freedom. The home provided us with the shelter we needed, the shelter of comfort and protection however the desperation to go out in the world was so extreme. We struggled to meet our loved ones, go on a picnic, enjoy a toastie at a local cafe or go shopping. The news said it could take weeks for the lockdown to be lifted as COVID cases were multiplying rapidly. And so were mental health, depression and anxiety issues. People felt stranded and locked in their safest havens. I realised that the repercussion of the pandemic made people unsee the many things in and around our house that constantly thrives in making our lives happy and comfortable. Every corner of our homes has a story to tell, every piece of decoration we have installed has a process of planning behind it, every random object narrates a memory and every part of that favourite pillow moulds towards ensuring a good night's sleep. And yet we complained and complained that it was getting impossible to stay home. This photography project captures the untold stories of the many objects that our home contains and inspires the audience to take a moment and cherish the voices of the lifeless world and their relationships with its residents. We often forget to value what we have and understand what matters; we tend to focus on what we don't have and forget to embrace the existence of big-little items around the house that make us feel at home. What would our rooms look like without these items? What if you wake up and find those objects vanished from the shelf? What if they just walk away from your life because you didn’t care enough?
We make art as a visceral response to the forces of bigotry and intolerance, which seek to undermine the hard-fought battle for pluralism.
We make art to understand who we are as migrants on Indigenous land.
We make art to draw attention to the work that is still needed to future proof our identity as a society that deeply values its diversity.
Arts as diverse as our people.
We champion culturally diverse artists and communities to create systems of cultural production and participation that uphold equity and self-determination.
We champion culturally diverse artists and communities
We privilege non-western ways of doing, knowing and being, to tell stories that illuminate our humanity and improve intercultural understanding;
We strive for cultural democracy, sharing our knowledge and skills with partners across the arts and cultural sector to build platforms for engagement and visibility;
Diverse communities see themselves represented in and by us, in work that resonates with their truths, underpinned by shared values and dreams of new futures; and
We are outspoken in our support of cultural participation as a human right, from which we derive social, cultural and economic benefits for the development of individuals and society.