**CHANGE TO SATURDAY PROGRAM** Each time it breaks, my heart opens more: A perfume making and plant dyeing workshop with Justine Youssef and Gianna Christella Hayes

Dear registered guests and friends,  

In this unprecedented moment of crisis, Justine and her co-facilitator Gianna have decided not to proceed with Saturday's planned distillation and plant dyeing workshop. Instead, they invite you to gather at UTS Gallery a little earlier, from 10am to 11am, to make space for conversation, sustenance and collective sharing of practices of resilience.  

All those who have registered for the workshop are welcome to attend this gathering but please be advised the previously promoted perfume and plant dyeing workshop will not take place on Saturday.  

We look forward to welcoming you to the gallery.
Also, a brief note from Justine in the lead-up: 

Dear friends, 

Thank you for registering your interest in Each time it breaks, my heart opens more.

When Gianna and I agreed to go ahead with this workshop, it was at a time when we believed that a ceasefire would be immediately called and the possibility of escalation was unthinkable.

In the weeks that have since passed, over twelve thousand people have been killed in Gaza and the West Bank. Thousands of others are buried alive under the rubble of bombed out buildings. Countless are left starving, maimed, and illegally imprisoned. Israel has murdered over seventy people and incapacitated thousands in Lebanon since the genocide surged on October 7th. Land is being poisoned to prevent repair.

Out of respect for my family and those across the region whose lives are at inconceivable risk, I cannot run Saturday's workshop as planned. From my belief in the importance of being together, Gianna and I will make space to offer relief and regulation, so that we may continue long-term efforts in support of cease fire and land back. I will share somatic practices of resilience that I have learned and Gianna has also prepared herbal care packages to carry you in this time.

Ya3tikoun el 3afye.
With love and power,
Justine

~~~

Each time it breaks, my heart opens more

Saturday 11 November, 10am — 11am
UTS Gallery
Free with registration, limited capacity, registration is essential
Plan your visit | Make access request

Please let us know if you have access needs. Please note that this workshop features strong smells and participants will be working with their hands to extract pigments and scents. 

Justine Youssef's solo exhibition Somewhat Eternal continues at UTS Gallery until 24 November.

This event is supported by The Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion at UTS.

About the facilitators.

Justine Youssef’s work often begins with moments and places that reconfigure authoritative realities, most recently exhibiting With the toughest care, the most economical tenderness at the Hawai’i Triennial, O’ahu (2022); A Gateway or a Key at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney (2022) and Under the table I learnt how to feed you at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2022). She lives across Wangal and Dharug Countries in Sydney, Australia, where she was a Parramatta Artist Studios resident (2018-21), a winner of the Copyright Agency’s John Fries Award (2019) and a recipient of VACS Major Commissioning Fund (2022).

Gianna Christella Hayes is a multi-disciplinary artist and facilitator working alongside plants, people, images and memories. At the core of her practice, Gianna's work is a meditation on intention, alchemy, ceremony, and memory. Her workshops invite folks to explore their creativity in a slow, yet playful, restorative process - and take home a piece of earth with them at the end of the session. Gianna was born on Tongva Land in Los Angeles, California and currently lives, tends and explores on Darug land in Western Sydney.

Header image: Justine Youssef, Somewhat Eternal, 2023, three channel video (film still). Courtesy the artist.