Artspace Welcomes Michelle Blakeney as First Woolloomooloo Artist in Studio 11

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.

Her residency marks the beginning of a new ongoing initiative at Artspace focused on deeper engagement with the Woolloomooloo community and surrounding neighbourhoods, while supporting artists connected to the local histories, communities and cultures that shape the area. 

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.

Studio 11 is Artspace’s flexible research and development platform supporting artists, writers, performers, curators and interdisciplinary practitioners through short-term residencies focused on experimentation, dialogue and new work development. 

Artspace Executive Director, Victor Wang said:

'Michelle Blakeney’s residency carries a significance that extends beyond the studio itself. As the first Woolloomooloo-based artist to participate in an Artspace residency program, her presence reminds us that institutions must remain connected to the communities and histories that shape the places they occupy. Michelle’s practice is deeply grounded in care and cultural continuation, honouring not only lived experience, but the enduring legacy of her mother, Aunty Selena Blakeney, whose advocacy, generosity and creation of spaces of gathering and belonging shaped generations within Woolloomooloo.'

Studio 11 resident artist, Michelle Blakeney said:

'This opportunity supports me to honour the wishes my late mother, Selena Blakeney, had for the Woolloomooloo community; to create space for local First Nations knowledge to be nurtured through holistic arts and wellbeing.'