Tiana Khasi/Returning to Meghalaya
Presented in partnership with Brunswick Music Festival

Tiana Khasi/Returning to Meghalaya showcases the soulful storytelling of Naarm-based future soul artist Tiana Khasi. Positioned in the context of her wider residency project at correspondences, Inciting Joy, with visual artist Cecilia Sordi Campos, where Tiana will explore intersections between her live performance, group singing practice, and community work more deeply, this rich and layered performance expands upon her critically acclaimed 2019 debut EP, Meghalaya, leaning into her deep love of vocal harmonising that is grounded in and honours her Samoan and Indian cultural heritage. Before and after the performance, guests are welcome to explore the exhibit in the space featuring sounds by Tiana and images by co-resident artist Cecilia.

For this special one-night-only performance, Tiana will be joined by Liona Tatafu, members of the Halo Vocal Ensemble, and guitarist Ryotaro Noshiro. Percussionist to be announced.

Date: Friday, 7 March 2025
Location: Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country correspondences 39 Sydney Road Bulleke-bek (Brunswick) VIC 3056

Proceedings:
—6:30-6:55 pm Entry via the Sydney Road front entry until 6:55 pm. Hereafter, access is via the laneway at the rear of the gallery. Our volunteers will direct you. 
—7:00-8:00 pm Performance approx.
—8:00-9:00 pm Drinks, conversations with the performers and opportunity to explore the resident artists' exhibit. 

Press 'Join the guest list to join'.

Additional notes regarding access and ticketing are provided via the Ticket Tailor event page. Press the button below to access this.

Acknowledgements
We respectfully acknowledge the Sovereign Custodians of the land and waters upon which we live and work, the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation. We pay our respect to their Elders, past, present and emerging. We extend this respect to all First Peoples.

SUPPORTED BY

Artist bios

Open late — Mingle. Meet. Be / Multilingual Poetry Reading/Listening Circle

Friday, 7 February, 6:30-8:00 PM
Location: correspondences Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country 39 Sydney Road Bulleke-bek (Brunswick) VIC

We invite you to join our Multilingual Poetry Reading/Listening Circle. On one Friday every month, from 6:30 to 7:00 p.m., we explore our resident artist's exhibit together. Then, we settle down to read or listen to poetry together. Please bring a poem to share/read in whatever language you like. Or, just come to listen. All welcome.

In February, we focus on profiling our books of poetry, fiction, non-fiction and selected works of craft that we offer for sale throughout the year via our retail function. We’re also delighted to be showing the beautiful poetry chapbook, ‘an ordinary cup of tea’, by local artist Dean Mundey. Come in and explore.

Press the ‘JOIN THE GUEST LIST’ button below to RSVP. You can also choose a refreshment in advance if you wish. Proceeds go towards supporting our work. 

Attendance is free. Bookings are essential.

__________

Acknowledgements
We respectfully acknowledge the Sovereign Custodians of the land and waters upon which we live and work, the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation. We pay our respect to their Elders, past, present and emerging. We extend this respect to all First Peoples.

SUPPORTED BY

Open late — Ravi Avasti/Summa & Multilingual Poetry Reading/Listening Circle

Friday, 18 October, 6:30-8:00 PM
Friday, 29 November, 6:30-8:00 PM
Friday, 20 December, 6:30-8:00 PM
Multiple dates

correspondences Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country 39 Sydney Road Bulleke-bek (Brunswick) VIC

We invite you to explore Summa and join our Multilingual Poetry Reading/Listening Circle. On one Friday every month, from 6:30 to 7:00 p.m., we’ll explore the exhibit together. Then, we’ll settle down to read or listen to poetry together.

Please bring a poem to share/read in whatever language you like. Or, just come to listen. 

Credit: Credit: Installation view, Ravi Avasti's Human Acts 2024 at Stockroom Kyneton Photograph: Lu Foster

Press the ‘JOIN THE GUEST LIST’ button below to RSVP.

Attendance is free. Bookings are essential.

Opening Ravi Avasti / Summa - Part 3
Friday, 6 December, 6-8pm
correspondences Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country 39 Sydney Road Bulleke-bek (Brunswick) VIC
Exhibition dates: 30/11-21/12

Together with Ravi, we invite you to join us for the opening of Summa - Part 3.

Come explore and celebrate this special milestone exhibition with us.

To reserve your attendance, please book via the button ('Join the guest list').  Attendance is free. Bookings are essential to help us plan. 

Image credits:
1) Ravi Avasti, The Current Time as the Value of Light From a Seven Segment Display 2019, The current time, LED light boxes, custom electronics, 240 x 400 x 600 cm Photo: Simon Strong
2) Installation view, Ravi Avasti Summa Part 2. Photograph: Emily Weaving 

Ngarrga (dance) workshop with Djirri Djirri
Saturday, 19 October, 2:30-3:30 PM
correspondences Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country 39 Sydney Road Bulleke-bek (Brunswick) VIC

Join members of Djirri Djirri as they teach a ngarrga (dance) workshop and Wurundjeri creation stories.

Watch the dancers perform songs and dance on country before trying it out yourself. This adult workshop is suitable for everyone; no dance experience is necessary, just good listening skills.

Attendance is free. But capacity is limited as our space is intimate. Bookings are essential. To book your attendance, please book via the button ('Join the guest list').

About Djirri Djirri

Djirri Djirri are the only Wurundjeri female dance group, and are Traditional Custodians of Narrm (Melbourne) and surrounds. Djirri Djirri means Willy Wagtail in Woiwurrung, their Mother Tongue. The Willy Wagtail is the Spirit’s Messenger and gave us dance! Djirri Djirri dances honour their Liwik (Ancestors), Kerr-up-non (Family), Biik (Country) and animals. Djirri Djirri are all connected by blood through one woman, Borate, Berak’s (William Barak’s) sister. They ngarrga (dance) and yinga (sing) together as bininang (cousins), babi (nieces), girrin (aunties), baban (mothers), manggip(daughters), liwurruk (sisters) and bubup (babies). 

Image credit:
Djirri Djirri Wurundjeri Women’s dance group

Acknowledgement 
We respectfully acknowledge the Sovereign Custodians of the land and waters upon which we live and work, the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation.  We pay our respect to their Elders past, present and emerging. We extend this respect to all First Peoples. Thank you, Djirri Djirri members, for teaching us. 

Opening Ravi Avasti / Summa
Friday, 27 September, 6:30-8:30 PM
correspondences Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country 39 Sydney Road Bulleke-bek (Brunswick) VIC

Together with Ravi, we invite you to join us for the opening of Summa.

Come explore and celebrate this special milestone exhibition with us.

To reserve your attendance, please book via the button ('Join the guest list').  Attendance is free. Bookings are essential to help us plan. 

Image credits:
Ravi Avasti, Cherry Exposure #BG-2, 2023, cherry timber, 49.0 x 79.0cm x 4.0 cm. © Ravi Avasti

Together with Aarti, Inbal and Javad, we invite you to explore
سخن دل  Sokhaneh del – language/speech of the heart after dark and join our Multilingual Poetry Reading/Listening Circle. For the duration of the project, we have focused on Maulana/Rumi's poetry. This will be the final session with this focus.

Please bring your favourite Maulana/Rumi poem to share/read in Farsi or whatever translation is dear to your heart. Or, just come to listen.

Javad will also read a selection of poems in Farsi for us and speak about a selection of their mixed-media works on paper exhibited, inspired by Maulana/Rumi's poems.

Please press the 'Join the guest list' button to reserve your attendance. 

Attendance is free. Bookings are essential for planning purposes.  Additional notes are provided below. 

* If you want to participate in the special meal we are planning, the ticketed price for the last session is $10, payable at the door. Or, as this offering is limited, please add the meal ticket to your free registration to ensure your dinner.  

Image credit: Extra from ghazal/ode 1759 by Maulana/Rumi translated by Haleh Liza Gafori from the original Persian documented as part of Badiozzaman Forouzanfar's collection of Rumi's works. 

Using voice for the breath and community - with resident artist Aarti Jadu

Together with Aarti, we invite you to join us at CORRESPONDENCES for deep listening and community singing.

Over the course of the residency, Aarti will lead three Thursday evening sessions:
— Thursday, 21 March (Complete)
— Thursday, 11 April (Complete)
— Thursday, 23 May.

Each session will run for one hour from 6:30 to 7:30 PM, and then participants are invited to loiter for a drink in reflection until 8:00 PM. 

We encourage participants to attend all three sessions to deepen engagement. But if you can only attend one or two sessions, we still encourage you to join us.

No singing experience is necessary.

Full Course: $30 / for 3 sessions
Single Pre-Book: $10 / limited reduced price ($5) and free tickets available. First-in-best-dressed.

Press 'Join the guest list' to reserve your attendance. Tickets are $10 per session, but reduced-price and free tickets are also available. 

Location: correspondences 39 Sydney Road Brunswick, VIC, 3056 Australia.

Additional notes are provided below.

Credits:  Image of Aarti by Chloe Sobejko

Additional notes:

—Participation is $10 per session to help support the labour involved in facilitating the session. Reduced-price and free tickets are also offered.
—Refreshments can be purchased on the evening. Or please select a ticket that includes a refreshment.
—Entry is officially from 6:15 PM for a 6:30 PM sharp start. 
—All of our events are photographed as we need to document all that we do to evidence the work that we do and secure grant funding. If you'd prefer not to be featured in our event photographs, please let us know in advance, and we will ensure you're not captured. Your comfort is important to us.
—Please note: Disability access: Unfortunately, we could not install an entry ramp into our facility due to building limitations. There is a 200mm step up into the front entrance of the gallery space. Please drop us an email in advance at info@correspondences.work to discuss this further and arrange assistance. There is no step-up if you enter via the rear laneway (parallel to Sydney Road). However, there are three steps down into the gallery from the rear courtyard (rise measurements of the steps are 110 mm, 155 mm and 170 mm). We have an ambulant toilet which is wheelchair friendly but can only be accessed via the rear courtyard. The Sarah Sands pub next door has a wheelchair-accessible bathroom.

“My journey into sound began with devotional music from India. As a first-generation Australian artist, I navigate diverse ideologies to uphold my artistic integrity while seeking ways to honour and represent my cultural heritage and beginnings as part of a family of devotional singers. My work as a trained trauma-informed yoga facilitator, rāga* music student, performer and disability worker also informs my practice. Always curious about the interplay between digital processing and organic voice, I use these mediums and my
experience to explore self, place and connection to community.”

—Aarti Jadu 

*Rāga is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music, unique to India with no equivalent concept in Western classical music. 

Presented as part of سخن دل Sokhaneh del – language/speech of the heart

Together with Inbal, we invite you to join her as she makes a new painting on-site, inviting the audience to join her in a collective act of mark-making using a single piece of fabric and a selection of inks sourced by the artist. 

The session will run for 1.5 hours from 2:00-3:30 PM, and then participants are invited to loiter for a cup of tea until 4:00 PM when the event will finish.

An email with details from the artist on the intentions for this collective act will be sent to participants prior to the session.

No painting or drawing experience is necessary. Inbal will guide us on the day while also supporting a spirit of experimentation. 

Press 'Join the guest list' to reserve your attendance. Attendance is free. Bookings are essential for planning purposes.

Location: correspondences 39 Sydney Road Brunswick, VIC, 3056 Australia (map).

Additional notes are provided below. 

Credits:  Image of Inbal by Madz Rehorek

Additional notes:

—Entry is from 1:45 PM for a 2:00 PM sharp start. 
—All of our events are photographed as we need to document all that we do to evidence the work that we do and secure grant funding. If you'd prefer not to be featured in our event photographs, please let us know in advance, and we will ensure you're not captured. Your comfort is important to us.
—Please note: Disability access: Unfortunately, we could not install an entry ramp into our facility due to building limitations. There is a 200mm step up into the front entrance of the gallery space. Please drop us an email in advance at info@correspondences.work to discuss this further and arrange assistance. There is no step-up if you enter via the rear laneway (parallel to Sydney Road). However, there are three steps down into the gallery from the rear courtyard (rise measurements of the steps are 110 mm, 155 mm and 170 mm). We have an ambulant toilet which is wheelchair friendly but can only be accessed via the rear courtyard. The Sarah Sands pub next door has a wheelchair-accessible bathroom.

Presented in partnership with Brunswick Music Festival

Join us during Sydney Road Street Party to celebrate the launch of Brunswick Music Festival 2023 with Genevieve Fry & Esala Liyanage: In search of blank space - A sonic response to the work of Yoko Ozawa. 

Featuring multi-instrumentalist and composer Genevieve Fry and long-time collaborator percussionist Esala Liyanage of Cold Hands Warm Heart, this performance is a sonic response to the practice and ideas of resident artist Yoko Ozawa, and the sense of place on-site at correspondences, on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country. Inspired by a shared, lifelong interest in natural phenomena, including seasonal transitions, fog, breeze, rain, light and shadow, the performance explores the relationship between water reflection, vessels, materiality and sound through the Japanese notion of Yohaku (blank space), Ozawa's central preoccupation. Bush botanicals provide an interlinking material gesture between practices in this immersive performance incorporating installation, harp, synth, recorder and percussion.

Press 'Join the guest list to join'. 

Location: correspondences 39 Sydney Road Brunswick, VIC, 3056 Australia (map).

Proceedings:
—3:00-3:50 pm Sound check/set up. 
—3:50-4:00 pm Entry via the laneway at the rear of the gallery. As our attendants to direct you. 
—4:00-4:45 pm Performance
—4:45-5:15 pm Drinks, conversations with the performers and opportunity to explore Yoko Ozawa's inaugural installation on-site. 
—5:30 pm Event concludes.

Additional notes:
—Entry is officially from 3:50 pm for a 4:00 pm start, and the performance will run for approximately 45 minutes. If you arrive early, we invite you to have a seat and a coffee or tea in our rear courtyard while you wait. Seating is limited. But you're welcome. Entry via the rear laneway from 3 pm.
—The rear laneway is accessed via Black Street, which runs parallel to Sydney Road. Our volunteer ushers will be available to help direct you to the rear to see if you can enter the performance space after it has started. Numbers are limited. So please ensure you RSVP. 
—Please note (Disability access): Unfortunately, we could not install an entry ramp into our facility due to building limitations. There is a 200mm step up into the front entrance of the gallery space. Please drop us an email in advance at info@correspondences.work to discuss this further and arrange assistance. 
—Entry/participation is $10 or $20 with a drink. Non-alcoholic options are also available. This contribution helps us cover our costs and plan seating and refreshments.