Zoë Bastin is an Australian choreographer, performer, researcher, and educator whose interdisciplinary practice sits at the intersection of contemporary dance, visual art, and critical theory. Their work examines how bodies are shaped by and resist systems of power through queer and feminist methodologies. Zoë completed a PhD at RMIT University in 2021 on the philosophy of the body and currently lectures and supervises research projects at RMIT, VCA, and Deakin University. They are the artistic director of Zoë Bastin Dance, leading a company dedicated to research-led, collaborative performance-making.

Over the past decade, Zoë has presented work nationally and internationally, receiving recognition including a Melbourne Fringe Emerging Company Incubator Award for The Break (2025). Their collaborative practice spans composers, dancers, and visual artists, exploring the interaction of movement, sound, and space. Zoë’s curatorial and dramaturgical work contributes to shaping contemporary performance, connecting ideas in movement, supporting artists, and fostering knowledge-sharing across the cultural sector.

zoebastin.com

Photo: Tessa C. Stevens

陳雋然 Chun Yin Rainbow Chan (she/her) is an award-winning vocalist, producer and multi-disciplinary artist. Her practice bridges popular music and contemporary visual arts, exploring themes of cultural representation, (mis)translation, matrilineal histories and diasporic heritage. Central to her work is the research and reimagining of women’s oral traditions, particularly the fading bridal laments of Weitou women, Hong Kong’s first settlers, to whom she has deep ancestral ties. She is particularly interested in the power of ritual, song and performance as both a means of reclaiming agency and a living archive.
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In 2022, Chan was recognised in the “40 Under 40: Most Influential Asian Australians Award” for her contribution to arts and culture. She won “Artist of the Year” in the 2022 FBi SMAC Awards. Chan has performed at renowned venues and festivals including Sydney Opera House, Vivid, MONA FOMA, Gallery of Modern Art, Melbourne Music Week, Iceland Airwaves, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, and Tai Kwun (Hong Kong). Her works have been exhibited with Firstdraft, Liquid Architecture, Artspace, 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art and I-Project Space, Beijing. In 2020, Chan was part of Artspace’s One Year Studio Program and was selected as the Performance Space x West Kowloon Exchange resident artist. “Songs from a Walled Village”, her documentary for ABC Radio National, was a finalist in the 2021 Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union Prizes. Chan was a finalist in the 2021/22 NSW Visual Arts Emerging Fellowship (Artspace, Create NSW and NAS)

chunyinrainbowchan.com

Photo: Abdela Igmirien

Axel Garay (he/him) is a proud Meriam (Eastern Torres Strait), Puerto Rican & Malaysian queer man living and working on the lands of the Kulin Nations in Narrm (Melbourne) Australia. Axel is an emerging interdisciplinary artist -using digital video, installation and alternative photographic processes to explore themes of technology ethics, desire, spirituality, history and human psychology.

Axel received an honourable mention in the 2024 Bowness Photographic Prize for his work, Slow Way (Unfinished Business) and received a highly commended at the Brisbane Portrait Prize 2025. He has presented works at Yirramboi Festival (2025), State Library of Qld (2025), Museum of Australian Photography (MaPh) and Next Wave (2025). Axel is a recipient of the Creators Fund grant awarded through Creative Victoria to research and develop a feature length screenplay. Axel published a number of articles for Artshub as part of a stint as writer for their Amplify Collective diversity initiative. He was a co-deviser on Ilbijerri Theatre Company’s social impact play The Score, which recently toured around Victoria. Axel is completing a PhD at RMIT school of art, exploring questions around spirituality and immersive arts practices through video making, photography and live performance.

axgaray.com

Photo courtesy the artist

Matisse Laida is a Queer Mauritian/Venezuelan artist and community arts worker whose practice spans film, food, performance, and public programs. Their work centres care, culture, and collaboration through a queer diasporic lens.

They are the founder of We Eatin’ Good, a QPOC project using food to gather community and explore identity, and have co-curated 2 ON, a QTPOC party and performance night celebrating Black and Brown queer nightlife.

Matisse has worked across festivals, arts organisations, and youth programs to create spaces for marginalised artists to be seen and supported. A former Young Artistic Director at Next Wave, they are currently a Lead Artist at Signal Arts and part of the KINGS Emerging Curators program.

@we.eatin.good.bitch

Photo courtesy the artist

Varsha Ramesh (she/her) is a producer from Chennai, India now based in Narrm/Melbourne working across experimental and contemporary practice. She has worked across arts organisations, festivals, and ARIs, shaping projects with an ethic of care, curiosity, and creative rigour. All her work is guided by a deep commitment to equity and justice. Currently, she’s a Creative Producer at Arts House and Board Member at Runway Journal.

@varsharamesh_

Photo: Wild Hardt

Aziz Sohail is a Pakistan-passport holding curator and writer whose work builds interdisciplinary connections between art, history, archives, literature, theory, and biography and supports new cultural and pedagogical infrastructures. Their research and resultant projects honour and recognise the power of queer and feminist collectivity, sociability, joy, and wayward encounter and unfold through slowness, collaboration, and tentacularity. They are currently a PhD Candidate in Curatorial Practice at Monash University. As part of their PhD, they founded Queer Unschool South Asia, the inaugural edition of which took place in Nepal in late 2024.

@azizsohail

Photo: Abdul Halik Azeez