‘First Hand Experiences. Second Hand Stories’, Ella Badu and Lilah Benetti.
16 October - 2 November, 2024
metaphorical libation…
“The exhibition weaves together the rich tapestry of personal narratives and communal memories, exploring the powerful intersections between first-hand experiences and second-hand stories passed down through generations. These stories, though often fragmented by time and distance, bind us to our Indigenous roots and spiritual heritage. At its core, the exhibition embraces the concept of metaphorical libation—a symbolic offering of our stories, dreams, and reflections in honour of our legacy and those who came before us. Each piece invites visitors to engage deeply with themes of displacement, cultural reclamation, and spiritual connection, challenging us to confront the erasure of our histories and reimagine them in ways that are both deeply personal and universally resonant. First Hand Experiences. Second Hand Stories, is a poignant and thought-provoking exploration of identity and memory within the African Australian diaspora. It serves as a sacred space for honouring our legacy and reimagining the lost and stolen histories that continue to shape our collective and individual identities.”
Please join us for the opening event: Thursday 17 October 6-8pm
About the artists:
Ella Badu is a Naarm-based artist of Ghanaian/German descent, celebrating West African indigenous spirituality, regalia, and symbolism through her handcrafted jewellery. She studied a Bachelor Chemical Engineering at RMIT, focusing on Metallurgy and Sustainability, and holds a Certificate III in Intermediate Jewellery from Melbourne Polytechnic. In 2023, Ella returned to Ghana to embrace a research and development opportunity, undertaking an apprenticeship with traditional Ashanti goldsmiths to study ancient goldsmithing and casting techniques, which she has since integrated into her practice. She aims to create sustainable adornments that serve as tangible links to the liminal spaces of time, culture, and identity. Ella's work seeks to tell stories that decentre Western narratives, highlighting African jewellery-making techniques through a hybridised approach to sustainability. Recent exhibitions include Aether and Alchemy, Comune Gallery (VIC) presented as a part of NGV Design Week.
Artist and Filmmaker Lilah Benetti considers their artistic approach as autoethnographic, exploring the expansive convergence of gender, sexuality, and racial dynamics to envisage proximate futures. Speculative and imaginative, their work interplays elements of reality and imagination, leveraging fiction as a tool to illuminate lost and obscured narratives within the context of global Indigenous Black culture. Benetti delves into both traditional and spiritual knowledge to gain insight into contemporary worldviews, fostering a creative process that pioneers new modes of resistance while embracing free-from expression. Considering the boundaries of still and moving image as fluid and porous, Benetti explores storytelling through a variety of techniques often through large scale public installation pushing the medium's possibilities through scale, method and presentation. Lilah graduated from LaSalle International Art and Design College and has since completed residencies at the MQBMBQ (My Queer Blackness My Black Queerness) Villa Lena (Italy 2022), the Centre for Projection Art (Australia 2023) and Kehinde Wiley's Black Rock (Senegal, 2024) and The Art House (UK 2024). In 2025, Lilah is set to showcase their work in several major international exhibitions.
