In conversation with Leyla Stevens

In celebration of the exhibition PAHIT MANIS, Night Forest at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, join Australian–Balinese artist Leyla Stevens in discussion with exhibition co-curators, Johanna Bear, assistant curator of contemporary Australian art at the Art Gallery and Katie Dyer, senior curator at Artspace.

The centrepiece of PAHIT MANIS, Night Forest is an immersive film that transports you to a Bali of ancient trees and spirits, where storytelling holds keys to caring for the natural world. This conversation will explore the ideas and process behind Stevens’ work, which combines animation sequences, wayang kulit (a form of shadow puppet theatre) performance and documentation of contemporary painting practices with field recordings from one of Bali’s last old growth forests.

After the discussion, enjoy complimentary home-cooked Indonesian sweets from Lawan Catering accompanied by tea and coffee.

Co-curated with Artspace, this exhibition is part of the Art Gallery’s Contemporary Projects series, which highlights the work of artists from NSW.