NEXT WAVE RESIDENCY: Delali Zevon-Aniakwah
Ainslie and Gorman have been excited to partner with arts organisation Next Wave for their latest Kickstart Program!
Kickstart has been supporting and fostering the creative endeavours of early careers artists for the last 20 years leaving a long legacy of ambitious bodies of work. By centring artists where they live and work, this program is shifting structures to foster slow development, blend intergenerational support and mentorship, and see artists experiment from the vantage point of their existing location, contexts, and communities.
This year sound artist and performer Delali Zevon-Aniakwah took up a two-week residency here at Gorman Arts Centre on Ngunnawal Country. Delali draws from everyday euphoria – crushes, escapism, revenge fantasies – in her synth and voice driven experimental-electronic music which is equal parts staunch, celestial and introspective.
In 2018 Delali launched her ambitious and ongoing experimental project VOLTA HYMN, collecting a string of singles awards along the way. This isn’t the first time Delali has worked with A+G. VOLTA HYMN has been a feature of the 2022 Ainslie Salon series and we are so excited to have Delali back in the building. Read on for Delali’s take on her process and residency experience!
Delali, tell us a little bit about yourself
I’m a sound artist and performer
What has inspired your creative practice
Isolation, internet wormholes, church + unsettling women
What is your project for Next Wave’s Kickstart program
I’m unearthing new sound works from my psyche via. improvised performance at Ralph Wilson Theatre for a compilation album.
How has your experience been so far as part of the Kickstart program?
It’s been really interesting. I haven’t done anything like it before. For me, it’s been a slow burn where I’ve been able to mold and sculpt my process in new ways, and then develop a work that aligns with those reflections.
What is the most rewarding thing about working in a longform development process?
It’s cool working on something over multiple seasons and getting to channel the energy of each season into the varying steps of the project.
What are the positives and challenges about working in an experimental artform space here in ACT?
I feel like I came across the majority of my influences and affinities in sound growing up here – so there’s a level of context that’s nice to be around while making something new. There’s something dreamy about being in a subdued city, and I think people here respond to scarcity in really fun ways.
