Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Tuesday 31 March
6:15 PM - 7:15 PM
Anzac Day – and the Australian defeat at Gallipoli – has become a cornerstone of Australia’s national history, helping to shape our identity and our character. But what does the Battle of Gallipoli mean to the Turkish people? What’s their perspective on the battle, and what place does it hold in their history?
Ahead of the centenary Anzac Day, the City of Melbourne has worked with the Turkish Australian community to create Gelibolu – a contemporary arts exhibition that portrays the Turkish Australian perspective, inspired and guided by 16 interviews across that community.
In discussion with Cigdem Aydemir, Bulent Dellal OAM, Meaghan Wilson-Anastasios and Serpil Senelmis, we’ll explore key themes of the exhibition: what Anzac Day means, along with ideas of history-making, losses, legends and political propaganda.
Featuring
Cigdem Aydemir
Cigdem Aydemir is an Australian Muslim artist with Turkish heritage. Her interdisciplinary art practice incorporates installation, performance and video. She explores the convergence of gender, religious and cultural identities including themes of body politics and intersectionality. Much of her work interrogates the void between body and dress as well as its social and political implications.
Aydemir was the 2013 recipient of the Redlands Konica Minolta Art Prize, in the Emerging Artist category, and the Edna Ryan Award for Creative Feminism in 2012. She has exhibited both nationally and internationally receiving support and opportunities from Australia Council for the Arts, Arts NSW, Ian Potter Cultural Trust, Freedman Foundation (Travelling Arts Scholarship), Performance Space (Sydney), Salamanca Arts Centre (Hobart), and Vryfees (South Africa).
Serpil Senelmis
Serpil Senelmis is an Australian broadcaster with Turkish heritage. She is the co-director of Written & Recorded, a content agency.
The West Australian Academy of Performing Arts graduate has worked behind the microphone, in front of the camera and behind the scenes of radio and television programs across Australia. As a producer, she has worked with Jon Faine, Helen Razer, Derryn Hinch, Waleed Aly, singer Clare Bowditch, Jonathan Green, Patricia Karvelas and comedians Nazeem Hussain and Tony Moclair. She’s had a long working relationship with gonzo journalist John Safran and his co-host Father Bob Maguire. Her documentary work has covered the Turkish history at Gallipoli and a retrospective look at 1960s Turkish popular music.
In 2014, Serpil formed part of ABC Local’s broadcast team for the live coverage of ANZAC Day from ANZAC Cove and Lone Pine in Gallipoli. And in 2015, she returned to Turkey for the ABC’s broadcast of the centenary commemorations. In 2016 she presented The Sunday Sesh, which aired nationally on ABC Local Radio and in 2017 she hosted the ABC Local Radio national afternoons program during the summer line-up.
Bulent (Hass) Dellal
Bulent Dellal OAM is the Executive Director of the Australian Multicultural Foundation and Deputy Chairman of the SBS Board of Directors. He has over 25 years’ experience in policy, management, community development and programming for cultural diversity.
He has extensive experience nationally and internationally in multicultural affairs. He serves on various boards and committees and has spearheaded initiatives for the development of the general community. He has prepared programs on community relations on behalf of Government authorities and the private sector.
Dellal is Chair of the Centre for Multicultural Youth, Co-Chair of the Victoria Police Multi-faith Council, Member of the Australian Multicultural Council, Board Member of the European Multicultural Foundation, a Fellow of the Williamson Leadership Program and an Australia Day Ambassador.
He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for services to Multiculturalism, the Arts and the Community in 1997, and the Centenary of Federation Medal in 2003. He was conferred with an Honorary Doctorate in Social Sciences by RMIT University in 2006.
Meaghan Wilson-Anastasios
Meaghan Wilson-Anastasios is a lecturer in the Arts and Cultural Management and Art History programs at the University of Melbourne, where she researches and publishes in the areas of cultural economics and arts marketing. She also writes for a general audience; she co-wrote the historical novel, The Water Diviner, which was released by Pan MacMillan in December 2014, based on the script for the film of the same name starring Russell Crowe.
Meaghan is also a researcher and writer for film and TV; she researched and co-wrote Shane Delia’s Spice Journey: Turkey (SBS), Australia: The Story of Us (Channel 7), and Gourmet Farmer Afloat (SBS). She writes for the Age and Gourmet Traveller, and is a regular commentator in the media on art market issues.