I acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation whose land I live and work on and pay my respects to Elders both past and present, their culture and continued connection to Country.
Leyla Stevens is an Australian-Balinese artist who works within moving image and photography. Her practice is informed by ongoing concerns around gesture, ritual, spatial encounters and transculturation. Working within modes of representation that shift between documentary and speculative fictions, her interest lies in the recuperation of counter histories within dominant narratives.
Leyla was awarded the prestigious 66th Blake Art Prize for her moving image work, Kidung, which engages with Bali’s histories of political violence. Her immersive multi-channel video installations have been exhibited in Australia through artist run, institutional, university and regional galleries, most recently with new commissions for TarraWarra Biennial 2023: Ua usiusi faʻavaʻasavili, curated by Léuli Eshrāghi and The National 2021: New Australian Art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Recent solo presentations include A Line in the Sea at West Space, for PHOTO 2021, Melbourne’s inaugural international festival of photography; Dua Dunia, at PS Art Space in Fremantle, for Perth Festival (2021); and Their Sea is Always Hungry at UTS Art (2019). She has been represented in recent group exhibitions: One song is very much like another, and the boat is always from afar, at Guangdong Times Museum, China and UN/LEARNING AUSTRALIA at Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA), South Korea; I am a heart beating in the world: Diaspora Pavilion 2, curated by 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art and International Curators Forum (UK), held at Campbelltown Arts Centre (2021). Her work is included in several major collections including, Kadist Foundation (San Francisco/Paris), Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney) and Art Gallery of NSW (Sydney).
An Artist CV can be downloaded here.