Michelle Blakeney

Michelle Blakeney is a Yaegl and Wiradjuri artist who grew up in Woolloomooloo. Her work seeks to document her culture and history through various media, including photography, film, theatre and sculpture. Informed by community, kinship and cultural heritage, her practice often draws upon her family’s photographic archive and lived histories to foreground intergenerational storytelling and memory.

Blakeney also has a socially engaged practice that focuses on cultural continuation and custodial ethics as contemporary art practice. Deeply rooted in First Nations knowledge systems and collaborative processes, she works across storytelling, performance, teaching and community-led initiatives to sustain and strengthen cultural connection.

Central to her practice is the continuation of the work and legacy of her mother, the late Aunty Selena Blakeney — a respected Elder, community advocate and cultural leader whose care for the Woolloomooloo community created spaces of gathering, support and belonging across generations. Through her work, Michelle honours and extends this legacy of cultural leadership, community care and intergenerational knowledge-sharing.