Tag: Rozelle

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Emily Jacir at the Sydney Biennale

Emily pictured with choreographer Andrea De Siena during rehearsals

In a previous post early last November (https://www.johnmcrae.com/emily-jacir-selected-for-the-25th-biennale-of-sydney/), I mentioned how my friend Emily Jacir had been selected among the international artists to exhibit at the 2026 Sydney Biennale by Artistic Director Hoor Al Qasimi, who is also the president and director of the Sharjah Art Foundation in the United Arab Emirates. Titled “Rememory,” this edition of the Sydney Biennale focuses on themes of history, memory and belonging.

The recently re-opened “Entertainment Hall” of the White Bay Power Station where the walls are covered with the flaking paint of murals painted in a “by-gone” time, when the hall was privy to the social interactions of the many workers at the power station.

Alongside her moving video/sound installation featured at White Bay Power Station, Emily, together with dancers and three Italian artists (Andrea De Siena, Walter Laureti, & Valeria Taccone), workshopped an amazing performance entitled “The Belly Cries and the Dogs Laugh”. This piece was choreographed and presented in the space of the Entertainment Hall, a wonderful building attached to the former Power Station in Rozelle, a space that was re-opened for this explicit purpose, for the first time since being decommissioned in 1984.

I was privileged to photograph and document the development and staging of this amazing artistic expression (see above for some images of the rehearsal/workshop process). The following images were taken during the final presentation, which took place in Sydney over four performances in mid-March during the first weekend of the Biennale.

All in all, it was an emotional, inspirational event. It ended with most of the audience on their feet, dancing together with Emily and the other performers. It was fascinating for me to see the development and rhythmic process that is involved in creating such a performance, from the heart-felt choreography of Andrea De Siena, to the exceptional sound track devised by Walter Laureti, together with the haunting vocals of Valeria Taccone.

The cast of “The Belly Cries and the Dogs Laugh” performed at the Sydney Biennale, 2026
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Images of my photo-installation at the Power Up Festival at White Bay Power Station

I went to the former White Bay Power Station at the weekend to take a series of installation images of my work, on display as part of the “Power Up Festival” in Rozelle. (See previous blog post for more info). There has been a really good response to my photographs in the exhibition, which were visible through specially constructed “peep-holes” to create a surreal, hidden, slightly subversive effect. My photographs themselves capture scenes shot in the former psychiatric ward and hospital in Rozelle.

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A touch of Mad Max in Rozelle

It might be a tad cold at the moment in Sydney but on the positive side, I find that the light is fantastic. I do prefer the winter light as it seems to give a much crisper definition to my images. Also you don’t have to wait for quite as long for the end of the day to come, when the light becomes softer and more forgiving – although the days are shorter and the sunsets and sunrises happen very rapidly.

I am using this period of the year to get out and take a few shots of my greater environment … buildings, street scenes, things that interest me, whenever I find some free time, as happened the other evening on the way home from the swimming pool. I saw the western side of the city lit up with the last rays of the sun. Luckily I had my camera with me in the car, so I stopped and snapped a few frames.

I did marvel at the unusual, futuristic looking cylinders that border the park. They are the exhaust stacks emerging from the tunnels that extends beneath the Rozelle Parklands, newly excavated as part of the WestConnex interchange. In my mind, they look like they belong on the set of one of George Miller’s Mad Max movies.

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Through the streets of Rozelle

One recent summer evening I decided to wander down Darling Street with my camera, to capture some images of the streets of Rozelle and Lilyfield as the skies turned to dusk.

It was a great exercise because not only did the light have an almost surreal quality, but it was fascinating to see how the corner shops, pubs and buildings which I pass by almost every-day are able to take on another dimension.

So every now and then, as I have done so in the past, I will continue to document my local area  … it’s worthwhile to record the changes over time, to highlight what stays the same and also to get some fresh air at sunset.