Vessel Contemporary

What a night!! Thanks to all the dancers who came down for our Late Night Fundraiser with Peacefender.

5 hours of music from:
Jemima Dove
Peacefender (Khaled Sabsabi)
Rok Riley
YESNA

Shout out to our community partner Freocast for collaborating with us on this one. You can restream the music and video from our page on the FREOCAST website:

https://www.freocast.net/discover/show/freocast-vessel

Thanks to our event partners for the ongoing support: Otherside Brewing, Willoughby Park, Lightning Minds and Front Runner AV

Photographer: Nina Juniper

Last Friday we opened the doors to ‘Between Suns’ with an artist talk between Khaled Sabsabi and curator Mikala Tai. Thank you to everyone who came down to hear Khaled speak about his artistic practice and this special exhibition.

‘Between Suns’ is open for the next 6 weeks, until September 20.

Wednesdays 1 - 7pm
Thursday - Sundays 11am - 5pm

Huge thanks to our partners for making the evening possible: City of Fremantle, Otherside Brewing, Willoughby Park and Lightning Minds.

Photographer: Rebecca Mansell

Between Suns has opened its doors to the public. Open this weekend 11-5pm Saturday and Sunday.

Between Suns is an invitation that brings together works by Khaled Sabsabi spanning almost three decades of artistic practice for the first time. From a reimagining of his earliest work, Aajyna (1998), to the recent painting series In Between Suns (2024–25), the exhibition traces the evolution of an enduring visual and spiritual language.

Curated by Mikala Tai.

Photographer: Aaron Claringbold

Late Night Party for ‘Between Suns’,  a collaboration between Freocast and Vessel. Experience the exhibition and celebrate with live sets from local DJs headlined by PEACEFENDER, Khaled Sabsabi himself!

SATURDAY 08 August
7pm- midnight.

PEACEFENDER
Before becoming one of Australia’s leading contemporary artists, Khaled Sabsabi 
was making noise as a teenage hip hop producer and DJ in Western Sydney during the 1980s, performing under the name Peacefender. Mixing unlikely influences into a signature “wall of sound,” he used music to bring together the area’s Turkish and Lebanese youth — a spirit of connection that still runs through his work today. For one night only Peacefender returns to the decks for a rare live set as part of ‘Between Suns’ at Vessel.

Tickets $30 via Humanitix (link in bio)

Thanks to our event partners for the ongoing support: City of Fremantle, Otherside Brewing, Willoughby Park and Lightning Minds, Vessel will be running a paid bar for the evening.

ROK RILEY
Boorloo’s ambassador of underground dance music and pure positivity. Not many people use music in all its forms to such effect together with its ability to bring communities together.

YESNA
From Broome to Boorloo, Yawuru and Karajarri DJ – YESNA, has been steadily building a strong presence across Boorloo, delivering sweaty, euphoric dancefloor energy wherever he plays.

JEMIMA DOVE
Freocast host, Perth-based selector, educator and curator of eclectic, heartfelt music experiences, grounded on the Derbal Yirrigan

Late Night Party for ‘Between Suns’,  a collaboration between Freocast and Vessel. Experience the exhibition and celebrate with live sets from local DJs headlined by PEACEFENDER, Khaled Sabsabi himself!

SATURDAY 08 August
7pm- midnight. Tickets $30 via Humanitix (link in bio)

Thanks to our event partners for the ongoing support: City of Fremantle, Otherside Brewing, Willoughby Park and Lightning Minds, Vessel will be running a paid bar for the evening.

Late Night Party for ‘Between Suns’,  a collaboration between Freocast and Vessel. Experience the exhibition and celebrate with live sets from local DJs headlined by PEACEFENDER, Khaled Sabsabi himself!

SATURDAY 08 August
7pm- Midnight

Introducing the supporting local acts:

YESNA
From Broome to Boorloo, Yawuru and Karajarri DJ – YESNA, has been steadily building a strong presence across Boorloo, delivering sweaty, euphoric dancefloor energy wherever he plays.
ROK RILEY
Boorloo’s ambassador of underground dance music and pure positivity. Not many people use music in all its forms to such effect together with its ability to bring communities together.

JEMIMA DOVE
Freocast host, Perth-based selector, educator and curator of eclectic, heartfelt music experiences, grounded on the Derbal Yirrigan

PEACEFENDER
Before becoming one of Australia’s leading contemporary artists, Khaled Sabsabi 
was making noise as a teenage hip hop producer and DJ in Western Sydney during the 1980s, performing under the name Peacefender. Mixing unlikely influences into a signature “wall of sound,” he used music to bring together the area’s Turkish and Lebanese youth — a spirit of connection that still runs through his work today. For one night only Peacefender returns to the decks for a rare live set as part of ‘Between Suns’ at Vessel.

Tickets $30 via Humanitix (link in bio)

Thanks to our event partners for the ongoing support: City of Fremantle, Otherside Brewing, Willoughby Park and Lightning Minds, Vessel will be running a paid bar for the evening.

Vessel Contemporary presents Between Suns by Khaled Sabsabi, curated by Mikala Tai. 07 Aug - 20 September.

Between Suns brings together works by Khaled Sabsabi spanning almost three decades of artistic practice for the first time. From a reimagining of his earliest work, Aajyna (1998), to the recent painting series In Between Suns (2024–25), the exhibition traces the evolution of an enduring visual and spiritual language.

Opening hours:
Wednesday 1pm-7pm
Thu-Sun: 11am - 5pm

Vessel is located at 141 Queen Victoria Street, Walyalup / Fremantle.

Image 1; Aajyna 1998-26, Photographer Anna Kucera
Image 2 : Detail of In Between Suns C, 2024.

On Tuesday July 21st Vessel and Spaced WA hosted ‘Yarning and Darning; Curious about screen printing?’ with Cara Teusner-Gartland.

The day was filled by activities and Cara was joined by members of The Buffalo Community Kitchen and the public. They worked on some new patches and T-Shirts, and audiences brought their own screens for a drop-in day of craft projects and screen printing!

Cara Teusner-Gartland x SPACED x VESSEL: Know Thy Neighbour #4

Photographer: Will Ek Uvelius

We are only a couple of weeks away from Emma-Lee starting her First Nation’s Artist-in-Residency. The First Nation’s AIR lives symbiotically with our major exhibition each year, ensuring that the building lives and breathes art practice:

This project centres on a tin of family documents given to Emma-Lee as a child, filled with photographs, handwritten notes, government records and newspaper clippings dating back to the 1800s. Carried for over a decade, this informal archive became both a source of connection and heavy responsibility—once held onto like evidence for wounds still tender. Now, rather than evidence of injury, it feels like a record of endurance and survival.

Instead of organising these materials into a definitive archive or linear history, the project approaches them as part of a long‑term, lived-in relationship. Emm-Lee plans to investigate what happens when documents are treated not as fixed truths, but as materials we live alongside—shaping identity, memory and self over time. Grounded in reflection and experimentation, the work resists tidy conclusions, favouring relational ways of sharing big stories beyond rigid archival traditions.

We asked Emma-Lee about the importance of this opportunity:

“Time is one of the most valuable things to any artist. Through Vessel, this residency gives me the breathing room to really invest in my practice and spend time with a project that’s been close to me for years. It starts with a personal archive, but I’m excited to see how it might open up and become something shared, particularly in a place that values experimentation and responsiveness”

Thanks to the Fulcrum Fund and the Fremantle Foundation for your generous support for this project. This program couldn’t have been possible without your commitment to supporting First Nations creatives and artists.

Photographer: Cole Baxter

Thank you, Annika Kristensen and Giorgia Mack.

Bittersweet news from Vessel Contemporary: two of our inaugural board members are stepping down. While we’re sad to see them go, we couldn’t be more excited for what’s next.
Annika has just begun her new role as Curator at the Fremantle Biennale, and Giorgia as Philanthropy Manager at Serpentine Gallery in London. Big shoes, brilliant futures.

Both Annika and Giorgia were instrumental in helping us build Vessel from the ground up , we quite frankly wouldn’t be here without them. Thank you for your expertise, your generosity, and your belief that a place like Vessel deserves to exist here in WA. We look forward to staying connected with you both in new capacities, and have no doubt you’ll continue to shape the contemporary arts landscape.

EMERGING CURATOR WORKSHOP WITH MIKALA TAI

Saturday 1st August
10-12pm

Vessel is inviting emerging curators interested in developing contemporary art projects, exhibitions and public programs to join us for a two-hour professional development workshop with Mikala Tai, curator of Khaled Sabsabi’s exhibition ‘Between Suns’ at Vessel.
The workshop will be tailored to those participating and will seek to talk through strategies and methodologies for developing a sustainable curatorial practice. Mikala will be keen to talk through your challenges as well as your aspirations and plot through ways of working.

Mikala Tai is an independent writer, curator and cultural strategist based in Sydney, frequently bouncing between her hometowns of Melbourne and Hong Kong.

A specialist in contemporary Australian and Asian art, she has collaborated with local, national, and international organisations to strengthen cultural connections between Australia and Asia. She is the curator of the next edition of the TarraWarra Biennial in 2027.

Starting her career at the National Gallery of Victoria, Mikala has most recently produced Khalil, Khaled Sabsabi’s large-scale installation for Koyo Kouoh’s In Minor Keys at the Venice Biennale and served as Head of Visual Arts at Creative Australia, where she was Project Director for Archie Moore’s Golden Lion–winning kith and kin. Prior to that, she was Director of 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney.

In 2015, she received her PhD, examining the influence of the global city on China’s local art infrastructure, and continues to maintain an active role in academia. Recent work can be found in writing for Art Review, Art Asia Pacific, Artist Profile, and Art and Australia; and as exhibition projects across Australia.
We welcome applications from people with diverse backgrounds, lived experiences and approaches to curating. Previous curatorial experience is required but institutional experience is not essential.

Free workshop but EOI/registration is essential due to limited spaces. Please email [email protected] with a short description of your practice/ experience by Friday 24 July.

Photography: Joshua Strong