THE BRITISH COUNCIL SUPPORTS FIVE ARTISTS PARTICIPATING AT THE 25TH BIENNALE OF SYDNEY
Sydney, 12 March 2026
The British Council is pleased to support the participation of Joe Namy, Nora Adwan, Keith Piper, Marianne Keating and Derek Ogbourne in the 25th Biennale of Sydney, running from 14 March – 14 June 2026.
This year’s Biennale theme is Rememory. A means of revisiting, reconstructing, and reclaiming histories that have been erased or repressed, Rememory signifies the intersection of memory and history, where recollection becomes an act of reassembling fragments of the past -whether personal, familial, or collective. The 25th edition of the Biennale connects the delicate space between remembering and forgetting.
“The artists we’re supporting at this year’s Biennale of Sydney are at the forefront of contemporary practice, speaking to memory, identity and shared experience that resonates in both our countries. Australia is the third largest market in the world for UK creative industries, and as British Council approaches 80 years in Australia we remain deeply committed to sector development and opportunities for artists between our countries.” said Helen Salmon, Director, British Council in Australia.
Derek Ogbourne’s artwork will be exhibited in the Chau Chak Wing Museum and will be featured in an Artist Spotlight Talk at the museum on Thursday 12 March.
Irish-Palestinian artist Nora Adwan will host “At The Table with Nora Adwan” on Saturday 14 March at Lewers: Penrith Regional Gallery. It will be a hands-on morning of cooking, baking, storytelling, and shared eating. Participants will be led through the preparation of a vegetarian menu while exploring themes central to The Pomegranates / Rumman installation, including generational knowledge, memory, and the intangible inheritances carried through diaspora communities.
London-based Lebanese artist Joe Namy will take part in an intimate In-Conversation on the stage at White Bay Power Station on Saturday 14 March to discuss his practice and the joys and challenges of working with archival sound. His work “Automobile” will be displayed at Centenary Square, Parramatta on Saturday 21 March as a free public participatory artwork celebrating auto-culture. The work sees Namy connect with local communities of the performance space, finding the pockets of passionate car-lovers who have modified their vehicles with state-of-the-art lighting, skins and sound systems.
A founding member of the British BLK Art Group, visual artist Keith Piper will be exhibiting at Lewers: Penrith Regional Gallery as part of the 25th Biennale of Sydney. Utilizing a research-driven, site-specific process, he has developed a particular interest in the ways in which history and social relationships can be articulated through artwork and narration.
Irish artist and researcher Marianne Keating uses visual, material and oral traces to reconstruct and reimagine the fragmented history of Ireland and the Irish diaspora. Her multidisciplinary works will be exhibited at the White Bay Power Sation during the 25th Biennale of Sydney.
Entry to the 25th Biennale of Sydney’s exhibitions is free.
About the British Council
The British Council in Australia supports peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide.
We uniquely combine the UK’s expertise in arts, education and the English language, our deep relationships in over 100 countries, our unparalleled access to young people and leaders and our creative sparkle.
We work directly with individuals to help them gain the skills, confidence and connections to transform their lives and shape a better world in partnership with the UK. We support them to build networks and explore creative ideas, to learn English, to get a high-quality education and to gain internationally recognised qualifications.
Bios for participating UK artists:
- Derek Ogbourne is best known for his exhilarating, at times wildly physical works across all art forms, centred around big themes of life and death, vision, landscape, beauty and the sublime. His work is deeply rooted in the dichotomy between resilience and fragility – what it is to endure and what it is to be human.
- Joe Namy is a Lebanese artist and musician based in London, whose practice encompasses sound, and its history and impact on the built environment. His work critically engages with the gender dynamics of bass, migration patterns of instruments, and the complexities of translation – from language to language, from score to sound, from drum to dance.
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- Keith Piper is a visual artist and academic, and founding member of the British BLK Art Group (active 1979–1984). Utilising a research-driven, site-specific process, he has developed a particular interest in the ways in which history and social relationships can be articulated through artwork and narration.
- Marianne Keating is an Irish artist and researcher based in London whose practice explores the complex legacies of colonialism, migration and empire, particularly the often-overlooked experiences of the Irish diaspora in Jamaica. Through visual, material and oral traces, she reconstructs and reimagines these fragmented histories using a multidisciplinary approach.
- Nora Adwan is an Irish-Palestinian artist. Her practice weaves together poetry, fiction, and documentary, drawing on diverse geographies and personal experience, with translation and shifts in language often playing a central role in shaping layered narratives that move between place and memory.
