From the Palm Of: A Roundtable on Food as a Cultural and Community Catalyst

Bankstown Arts Centre is a cultural facility, where artists and community groups collaborate to explore ideas and learn, create and experience contemporary community-based arts.

Bankstown Arts Centre

A roundtable discussion, hosted by artist Gillian Kayrooz, focusing on food as a cultural and communal connector.

The Bankstown Arts Centre

3rd Bankstown Biennale x Sydney Festival

Public programs for 3rd Bankstown Biennale: Same Same/Different delivered as part of Sydney Festival 2025.

This roundtable discussion, hosted by artist Gillian Kayrooz, explores the themes of her work From the Palm Of, focusing on food as a cultural and communal connector. Featuring three creatives, the event highlights how culinary practices revitalise spaces, preserve cultural identity, and foster connections across generations, offering a multisensory experience that showcases food as a medium for storytelling and community building.The panel conversation will explore how their culinary practices and passions have revitalised and preserved cultural identity, fostered connections across generations, and acted as powerful cultural and communal connectors. The program will feature special multisensory offerings from our participants, along with a captivating discussion on food as a unifying force. Special guests who will all bring an offering~Moderator: Gillian Kayrooz (She/Her)Gillian Kayrooz and her art practice was nurtured on unceded Dharug land, in Guildford, Western Sydney. She currently lives and works; between Gadigal and Dharug land in Sydney and Western Sydney. In 2018 she was awarded the Create NSW Young Creative Leaders Fellowship which led her to exhibit internationally in the Asia-Pacific region and complete residencies at the Chengdu Academy of Fine Arts in China, as well as the Sapporo Tenjinyama Artist Studio and the Tokyo ARTnSHELTER Gallery Precinct in Japan. Kayrooz held a studio artist tenancy at the Parramatta Artist Studios from 2020-2021 and was appointed Co-Director, and Co-Chair of Firstdraft from 2021-2023. She is currently participating in 'Counterflows', a program commissioned by Artshouse (Melbourne) and UTP (Sydney), that enabled her to undertake research and participate in the ‘March Meeting’ program as part of the 2023 Sharjah Biennale in the UAE. In 2024 she was announced as the recipient of the Create NSW x Artspace Visual Arts Emerging Fellowship.Participant: Xinyi Lim (She/Her)Xinyi Lim is a food curator, chef and former lawyer, currently leading food programming at Powerhouse Parramatta. Her exploration of the food industry has seen her cooking in kitchens across New York, Mexico City and Sydney, as well as developing and delivering cultural food events and festivals, and charitable initiatives such as Family Meal. Through her ongoing venture, Megafauna, she uses food as an artistic tool for social justice, building community and the exploration of culture and heritage.Participant: Kevin Cheng (He/Him)Kevin Cheng is a freelance journalist who has worked for publications in Sydney and Hong Kong, and has been published in the Daily Telegraph, Sydney Morning Herald, <a href="https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/PbQxC81V6ptwgzvXtzCmSyuKMG" title="https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/PbQxC81V6ptwgzvXtzCmSyuKMG" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">news.com.au</a>, SBS and the Hong Kong Standard. He is also an experienced marketing, social media and communications professional, working for brands including Airbnb, NSW Ports and Westconnex. He also co-founded a non-profit Soul of Chinatown that advocates for the revitalisation of Sydney’s Chinatown. The group started Chinatown's first comedy club and runs the charity Rice Fund initiative that helps elderly Asian-Australians in need with emergency food packages and pantry items. He is currently the manager of the Haymarket Community Improvement District for the Haymarket Alliance.Participant: Mariam Ella Arcilla (She/Her)Mariam Ella Arcilla (she/her) is an independent arts &amp; culture practitioner based on Gadigal land. Raised in a household of artists, cooks and entrepreneurs, she spent her childhood selling snacks, making zines, and mixing paint in her father's studio. Today, she practises elastically across facilitation, writing, editing, marketing, and publishing. Mariam has managed galleries, artist-run collectives, publications, and knowledge-sharing projects since 2006. She has dreamed up programs in collaboration with Runway Journal, Institute of Modern Art, Arts House Melbourne, 4A Centre, Miami Marketta, Powerhouse Museum, STATION, and more. As a creative practitioner, Mariam has presented projects with Welcome Merchant, Saluhan, Liquid Architecture, Electrofringe Festival, and The Entree.Pinays. Her 2024 projects include: co-editing Debris Magazine, developing Filipino arts databases, curating public art strategies for Aileen Sage Architects, and taking classes in art &amp; food politics, poetic computation, and technoculture. She runs Magenta House, a gathering space and library in Redfern. This panel will involve sharing food made by the panelists. If you have dietary requirments, please let us know at point of purchase or email artscentre@cbcity.nsw.gov.au.

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