The Accessible Arts and Bundanon Trust Artist-In-Residence Program announces a creative and career development opportunity for five visual artists or musicians with disability or who are d/Deaf from NSW and the ACT.

Congratulations to the selected artists: Emma Price, Aaron Aryadharma Matheson, Breanna Jones, Lulu Wulf and Casey Gray.

For the last five years Accessible Arts has partnered with the Bundanon Trust to present an annual residency program for artists with disability. This prestigious program comprises a seven (7) day residency in at the renowned Bundanon Trust estate – a beautiful rural property near Nowra that was gifted to the Australian people by famous Australian artist Arthur Boyd. The estate now supports arts practice and engagement with the arts through residency, education, exhibition and performance programs.  

Accessible Arts CEO Liz Martin says “Artists with disability don’t always get the same opportunities as artists without disability due to a range of physical, financial and cultural barriers. This program is all about trying to level the playing field for professional artists with disability so they can take their creativity and their careers to the next level.” 

The Bundanon Trust Artist-in-Residence program is the largest of its kind in Australia, making it highly sought after by artists nationally. “The residencies have been important steppingstones in the careers of many successful Australian artists, and this is what makes our annual initiative an incredibly valuable creative and career development opportunity for artists with disability.”

The residencies will take place from 21 – 27 November 2022 and will make a big difference for these five talented artists. 

Breanna Jones

A self-taught songwriter, Breanna Jones fronts Eora/Sydney based indie rock band Library Siesta. She has spent 10 years honing her craft of raw songwriting that pulls no punches. Drawing inspiration from the anyone-can-do-it ethos of The Moldy Peaches and the vulnerability of Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker, Jones creates songs that are adventurous while drawing the listener into her own private world.

Lulu Wulf

Lulu Wulf is an emerging artist trying make sense of light and the shadows of her surroundings. Based on Wiradjuri country, she engages with colour while trying to investigate their obscurities, questioning why they can become reminiscent of something that stirs. What happens at night time when there’s no one around to see? Lulu will explore the sacred grounds of Bundanon, the yuraygir country to find the subtle light interactions of the night.

Casey Gray

Casey is an advocate for people with disability who wants to help people with disability to have access to the arts and culture and help artists with disability be recognized the same as artists without disability. This year Casey was selected for the Front and Centre leadership program run by Albany Lane and Accessible Arts. This program has helped Casey to understand how she can be helpful in making the arts and culture more accessible. This includes writing books for people with intellectual disability and low levels of literacy.

Aaron Aryadharma Matheson

Aaron Aryadharma Matheson is represented by Liverpool St Gallery, Sydney. He was awarded the Richard Ford travel award and has been a finalist in the Mosman, Waverley and Waterhouse prizes. He has a Masters in Fine Art from the National Art School in Sydney and a Postgraduate Diploma in Drawing from the Royal Drawing School in London. For Aaron, painting is about seeing the cosmic from, and in, our mundane and embodied standpoint. He says: ‘The stars and planets are sublime– the unimaginable spaces in our universe, the trillions of stars in our galaxy. To paint is a much more domestic affair, mixing coloured pigment, rubbing and making scruffy marks. Out of the stretch between them the poetry of painting emerges’. Aaron has lived with Multiple Sclerosis for more than 12 years.

Emma Price

Emma is a Visual Artist from the Blue Mountains who works with various mediums including drawing, painting, collage, mosaics and printmaking. Art is an intrinsic part of Emma’s life and she is greatly inspired by the beauty of the environment. As part of her home-schooling, she visited the AGNSW fortnightly to attend Access Programs, exhibitions and workshops, working with inspiring artists and mentors. She has studied at the Visual Arts School in the Blue Mountains and was the recipient of numerous Art Scholarships. Her works have been exhibited in many local, national and international exhibitions.

Image Description: Five vertical columns with a headshot in each column, featuring: Emma Price, Aaron Aryadharma Matheson, Breanna Jones, Lulu Wulf and Casey Gray.