Bundanon

Kirk Page is a proud Munanjali man from South East Queensland with ancestral lineage connecting to Yugembeh and the Bundjalung nation, Badu Island – Zenadth Kes with Polish and German heritage. Kirk is an interdisciplinary performer, working as an actor, dancer, writer and director over the last 3 decades. He trained at the National Aboriginal and Islander Skills Development Association and has performed on the main stages across the country and toured internationally as a dancer, actor, director and mentor in the arts. He was the Associate Director at the Northern Rivers Performing Arts from 2016 to 2019. Receiving numerous awards for his theatre and television work, Kirk is currently developing two new theatre projects independently and is living on the unceded lands of the Bundjalung in the Northern Rivers Region of NSW.

Michael Simms is a queer visual artist and musician. Known for his portraiture work, Michael’s practice engages with themes around queer identity, masculinity and the impacts of digital technology. Michael holds a degree in psychology from Flinders University in Adelaide, and was awarded a scholarship to attend the Julian Ashton Art School. Michael has won several awards, and was a finalist in the 2023 Archibald Prize. He has completed residencies at the New York Academy of Art, and has exhibited his work across Australia. He lives and works in Sydney on Gadigal Country.

In Residence at Bundanon

Kirk and Michael’s project combines movement, music, drawing, painting and video to examine and deconstruct the colonial gaze through a queer lens. Their time at Bundanon involved a series of offerings and exchanges between each artist’s creative processes, opening conversations about the interconnectedness of art making and queer First Nations and colonial settler narratives in Australian art.