Contact 

4/217 Oxide Street
Broken Hill 
Wilyakali Country 
NSW 2880
info@slagheapprojects.com

About

Slag Heap Projects was born out of conversations and field trips on Wilyakali and Barkindji Country. Footprints left in creeks beds are often the only record of these discussions. Following mulga parrots and waterways brought together artists Asma d Mather and Verity Nunan, and curator Hester Lyon to form a new artist-run initiative in Broken Hill. The methodology of walking is at the core of Slag Heap Projects as a way to understand, embody and generate histories of place as settler-colonialists on unceded lands and waterways.



As people from away, Verity, Asma and Hester are committed to the people and ideas of Far West NSW. We recognise the importance of capturing the in-between and subtle moments of exchange that already happen informally and prolifically between artists in our communities. Slag Heap Projects gives form to ephemeral conversations.

Slag Heap Projects emerges within the socio-geo-political complexity of Far West NSW. The Slag Heap itself is a contested site and becomes a metaphor at the centre of this project.

Slag Heap Projects responds to a desire from our direct community to have a space that provides professional development, vital curatorial support, sustainable financial models and cross-community dialogue.

People

Hester Lyon

Founding co-Director

Hester Lyon is a curator, writer, and arts educator based on Wilyakali Country in Broken Hill. Through practices of walking and conversation on Country, Hester establishes ways of working in relationship to the specificities of regional ecology and politics. Her practice inhabits a methodology of dis-organising & collectivisation to explore alternative organisational models that foster agency of community & place. Hester founded Chloride St Studios with a collective of artists based in Broken Hill, a studio hub for local artists, hosting community and art events. She was previously Curator at Broken Hill City Art Gallery and has worked at a number of artist-run, public and private arts organisations in Naarm-Melbourne.

Asma d. Mather

Founding co-Director

Asma Mather’s practice seeks to map a space between the tangible/intangible, geography/metaphysics, sign/signified, through drawing, printmaking and 2D installation. Systems of interpretation are examined and distilled with an emphasis on essence, synthesis and traditional knowledge; its capacity to understand transformation, balance and the language of Nature. In her 2020 exhibition - barzakh; silence and the symphony - at the Broken Hill City Art Gallery, she researched the writings of Sufi metaphysician Ibn al-‘Arabi and his discussion of an intermediate zone as a meeting place for opposites and complementaries. Asma is an artist and educator who has exhibited widely.

Verity Nunan

Founding co-Director

Verity Nunan is a research-based artist, completing her PhD at Griffith University. She uses a walking-based methodology to explore architectural and artistic place inquiry. Mapping people’s relationship to space and place is the interface of this investigation and negotiating the degree of publicness is a central theme. Her research has been recently published in the Journal of Public Space (2018). Inspiring passion for community engagement, Verity co-founded the not-for-profit community organisation Bruns Brekkie (2018). Her work has been exhibited across Australia, most recently at Lismore Regional Art Gallery (2021) and Broken Hill City Art Gallery (2023).