About FLENK

Flora

Flora Suen (they/she) is an educator and digital creator. They were part of the international team that created the European Union's first online education resource for young people to identify and be active against racism and other forms of discrimination, the Stories that move: toolbox against discrimination.

Recently they collaborated with artist Katy B Plummer to build an AI chatbot and digital activations for Katy’s City of Sydney installation We are all astonishingly wise 2020 and video installation opera Margaret and the Grey Mare 2023. From 2018-2021 they were the Digital Learning Producer at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and was part of the team that created the Artful: art and dementia online toolkit for people living with dementia and their support networks, and the Aboriginal Digital Embassy for the exhibition Richard Bell: You Can Go Now.

Laura

Laura Carey is an artist, educator, arts worker and team manager. Laura has gained extensive experience working across events, gallery, public programs and learning fields. Her visual arts practice is centred in printmaking and is strongly influenced by her surroundings and experience of place through an observation and process driven practice.

Her organisational experience has ranged from artist-run gallery spaces in her hometown in Dublin, community-based galleries in Sydney, to key cultural institutions. She has also been working as an educator for over ten years in diverse arenas including private teaching, community-based public workshops, and gallery-based education. A highlight was supporting Sydney Biennale artist Ciara Philips with her artwork Workshop by engaging with local community groups over the course of the exhibition to working alongside the artist to produce new artworks together live in the gallery.

Recently Laura has led the Creative Learning team and guiding learning programming at the Museum of Contemporary Art and was the Manager for the Australia Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, supporting Marco Fusinato’s DESASTRES experimental noise project which comprised 200 days of durational performance.

Emma

Dr Emma Hicks is a Sydney-based artist, writer and academic and educator of Gamilaroi and European heritage.

Emma has a multidisciplinary practice covering film, sculpture, installation drawing and writing. Emma works in a responsive way to site or concept with connection to place and personal storytelling as recurring themes in her practice and most recently exhibited new site specific installation work in (Re) telling: Stories of Country and Truth at ArtSpace on the Concourse.

Emma currently works as Senior Coordinator for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Learning Programs at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and is a current Australia Council peer assessor in the area of emerging and experimental arts. She has previously worked as a lecturer for Sydney College of the Arts across disciplines (Practicing Contemporary Indigenous Art; Transcultural Collaboration & Experiments in Australasian Painting) and as a sessional Lecturer for the National Art School (Drawing Department). Alongside her professional experience she also works as a freelance graphic designer with over 15 years’ experience.

Emma has a range of experience facilitating workshops in creative writing, professional art practice, filmmaking, Aboriginal art and culture and transcultural collaboration for institutions such as Sydney College of the Arts, University of Western Sydney, University of Sydney, National Art School alongside working with community organisations.

Nicole

Nicole Barakat is an artist who works deep listening and intuitive processes with intentions to transform the conditions of everyday life. She has worked as an educator in the arts for over 18 years, including lecturing in fine arts at UNSW and working as an artist educator at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.

Nicole’s practice includes over 20 years of collaborative community-engagement where she sees respect and equality as the leading principles that drive an exchange of experience, knowledge and skills. Projects include: Shadow Places (Narrandera, NSW 2016) for the Powerhouse Museum in partnership with the Cad Factory and the award-winning Sydney Festival event Minto: Live (2011) with Campbelltown Arts Centre. Nicole most recently created a collaborative community artwork with the Rohingya Women’s Development Organisation for the Powerhouse Museum’s exhibition Eucalyptusdom.