The Unshakable Destiny: Nikki Lam in conversation with Leyla Stevens

Brought to you by the SSAF

Join us at the George Paton Gallery, Wednesday 21 October 6-7pm as artists Nikki Lam and Leyla Stevens discuss Nikki’s exhibition The Unshakable Destiny. Situated amidst the exhibition, this in conversation provides a context for both artists to consider the convergences and divergences of their respective lens-based practices, offering audiences an opportunity to engage with the exhibition after hours.

WHEN: Wednesday 21 October, 6pm - 7pm
WHERE: George Paton Gallery, Level 1 Building. 159, Arts & Cultural
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About the artists:

Nikki Lam is an artist, filmmaker and curator based between Naarm and Hong Kong. Her practice spans moving image, text, performance, curation and publishing—as discursive and fragmented forms to think about the time we live in. She sees these forms as anchors for understanding migratory and diasporic experiences. Her current research speculates the diaspora artist as a ghost in multiple worlds.

Nikki’s work has been shown widely across Australia and internationally, most recently at Whitechapel Gallery, London (2025), Sydney Film Festival (2025), Brent Biennial, London (2025), Primavera: Australian Young Artists 2023 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia in Sydney, Melbourne Now (2023) at National Gallery of Victoria, Only the future revisits the past (2024) at Centre for Contemporary Photography and Current Plans, Hong Kong (2022). 

Nikki is co-director of Hyphenated Projects, an award winning artist-led network that nurtures practice in Asian diasporas, and co-founded Slow Burn Books, an art publisher and research project that circulates independent publications from Asia and its diaspora. These projects focus on neighbouring dialogues between Asian diaspora and the Asia Pacific region through artist residencies, independent publishing and collaborative projects. 

Nikki’s upcoming solo exhibition will be at Northing Space, Bergen, Norway (2027). Currently, Nikki is a development resident at Arts House CultureLAB (2026-27), for her new work fish, ghost, goddess.

Leyla Stevens is an Australian-Balinese artist who works predominantly within an expanded documentary and lens-based practice. Her work is informed by ongoing engagements with storied places, archives, cultural geographies and performance lineages through a transcultural lens. Leyla’s research-lead practice is centred on collaborative engagements with place and communities, and the recuperation of counter-histories within dominant narratives

Recent commissions include: A temple in three acts (2026), for Gertude Contemporary, 'PAHIT MANIS, Night Forest' (2024) co-commissioned by Artspace and Art Gallery of New South Wales; 'GROH GOH, Rehearsal for Rangda' (2023) for the 2023 TarraWarra Biennial and the 17th Jogja Biennale, Indonesia; and 'Patiwangi, the death of fragrance' (2021) for The National 2021: New Australian Art.

In 2021 Leyla was awarded the 66th Blake Art Prize for her film, 'Kidung', which engages with Bali’s suppressed histories of political violence. Her work has been exhibited widely through major national and international exhibitions at: Museum of Contemporary Art, UQ Art Museum, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Artspace Sydney, Campbelltown Arts Centre, West Space, Guangdong Times Museum, China and Seoul Museum of Art, South Korea.