Cooee 'Messengers' Art Exhibition/Album Launch

Join us to hear our debut album 'Messengers' in full and celebrate the community behind it. Featuring artworks by Kirli Saunders and Mark Chester Harding, photography by T W Baker and Lillie Paton as well as a live performance by Cooee + special guests.

Free entry - but limited capacity of 100 so we're going to play two sets for earlycomers and latecomers.

Doors: 6.30pm

Cooee performance 1: 7pm

Cooee performance 2: 9pm

Please register for the set time you're interested in.

Supported by The Annex, Creative Australia and Create NSW.

About Cooee:

Cooee is a collaboration between multidisciplinary artist Kirli Saunders and musician-producer Mark Chester Harding.

The project began serendipitously, after Kirli and Mark met performing with Jack River for triple j’s Like a Version in late 2023. That same week, Kirli had released her poetry collection, Returning (Magabala) — a book that would linger with Mark and ultimately form the lyrical foundation of their early songwriting sessions. A handful of Kirli's poems were soon set to Mark's pre-existing musical sketches, marking the start of a dynamic creative partnership.

Kirli Saunders, a proud Gunai woman and recipient of the Order of Australia Medal for her contributions to the arts, brings a literary sensibility to the project. Her writing, spanning eight books, with works like Kindred (Magabala), Returning, and Eclipse (Allen & Unwin, 2025), explores connections to Country, culture, love, and loss.

Mark Chester Harding is a producer and songwriter known for his collaborations with artists such as Jack River, Sons of the East, and Jem Cassar-Daley. His solo releases have collectively garnered over six million streams.

Their debut album Messengers features contributions from shoalhaven-based First Nations choir Mudjingaal Yangamba, proud Dharawal based Murri man Broc Piazza on Yidaki, Eric Avery | Marrawuy on violin, Djirringanj musician Warren Foster Jr as well as performances from members of King Stingray, Sons of the East and Middle Kids.

Both Kirli and Mark are also visual artists, designing all accompanying artwork and content for the project themselves — an extension of their shared commitment to storytelling through multiple forms.