culture

Since his first short film won the Palme d’Or in 2003, Glendyn Ivin has established himself as one of Australia’s most exciting film and television directors. The forthcoming Penguin Bloom, starring Naomi Watts, brings some light to his dark meditations.

An artist whose work incorporates fashion, visual art and biomaterials, Alice Potts’ contribution to the NGV Triennial has been profoundly shaped by her experience of Covid-19 in Britain.

At 31, Kendall Feaver continues her brilliant career with her new adaptation of Miles Franklin for Belvoir. “I’m wary of black-and-white thinking … I’m interested in the ‘why’. Why is this fracture happening? Why is this so divisive, so deeply felt and fought over?”

Four years ago, children’s author Ted Prior thought he had finished with his beloved character Grug. But with a new book and a theatre adaptation celebrating its 10th anniversary, it seems that he is far from done. “I just enjoy the way young children think and the way they do things – and I think there is a bit of the young child in all of us.”

For Melanie Chisholm global fame came at a high price, but she lived to tell the tale. At 46, she has just released her eighth solo album, which she says is her most vulnerable yet. “All of that time I spent searching, trying to find myself, trying to move away from Sporty, I felt like that’s what I had to do: to become an individual I had to leave her behind.”

After a quarter of a century as one of Australia’s finest stage actors, Anita Hegh is well placed to channel Virginia Woolf in A Room of One’s Own. “Although it is a much kinder world for women than it has been, there’s still a long way to go.”

A Facebook message seven years ago prompted poet and activist Janet Galbraith to found a writing group that brought hope and connection to refugees. “It was formed out of the relationships between human beings, reaching through prison fences and beyond borders.”

On his company’s 10th anniversary, Shaun Parker – one of the stalwarts of Australian contemporary dance – looks over his shapeshifting career. “It’s weird, I didn’t like it. I loved it. You’d think I’d be more terrified, but I think, beginning to sing or dance or act, you’re becoming another role. I love that feeling of becoming someone else.”

Last month one of the enduring figures of the Australian art world, John Nixon, died. “From the beginning of his career, Nixon remained an artist who believed in the ideal of a perpetual avant-garde.”