Reflections of Home

Artist Bios

Laura Case is a proud Wiradjuri woman and lecturer in musicology at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. She completed her PhD at the end of 2023 and is passionate about using music to reframe Indigenous histories and reclaim Indigenous knowledge. Laura is a classical violinist with over 25 years of performing and teaching experience. She has performed with pioneering Indigenous hip hop artist Rhyan Clapham (DOBBY), Aboriginal country singer Uncle Roger Knox and is a member of Deborah Cheetham Fraillon's Ensemble Dutala - Australia's only Aboriginal chamber ensemble. In 2024, Laura performed on stage with Ensemble Dutala at the annual Garma Festival in East Arnhem Land.

Kaleena Briggs-Smith is an Indigenous Australian singer and songwriter, renowned as one half of the acclaimed duo Stiff Gins, alongside Nardi Simpson. Born in Melbourne, Kaleena hails from the Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta peoples of southern New South Wales and northern Victoria. Formed in 1999, Stiff Gins have garnered recognition for their unique blend of stunning harmonies and insightful songwriting. They have released several albums, including "Origins" in 2001 and "Kingia Australis" in 2005, both showcasing their deep connection to their cultural heritage.

Ellatronix is the sonic alias of Thalia Skopellos, a First Nations composer, music producer, and sound designer crafting soul-infused electronic music that explores healing, emotion, spirituality, and transformation. Blending textures, ambient soundscapes with synth-driven and cinematic atmospheres, she creates compositions that awaken the senses and stir the soul. Ellatronix composes for screen, immersive art spaces, audio visual productions, and solo projects, using sound as a bridge between storytelling worlds.

Nicole Smede is a multidisciplinary artist of Warrimay and Irish ancestry, living and creating on Wadi Wadi Dharawal Country. Working across sound, voice, poetry, and installation, her practice explores the interrelationship between land, language, and memory, guided by ancestral knowledge. Through immersive soundscapes and poetic works, she invites deep listening as a form of connection and return to Country.
Her compositions have been commissioned by leading festivals and ensembles including Canberra International Music Festival, Ensemble Offspring, and River City Voices. Her voice features on award-winning soundtracks such as Goldstone and Black Cockatoo Crisis, and her poetry appears in Guwayu: For All Times and Australian Poetry Journal, amongst others. In 2025, she premieres Nyiirun Yiiga, a mass choral work in Gathang language, and presents her solo exhibition Bagandha yanggamba-ngga at Shoalhaven Regional Gallery. Nicole is a member of Mudjingaal Yangamba choir, and her works are held in national collections.

Matthew Doyle is a Muruwari/ Yuwalaraay Performing Artist , Born on and raised on Gadigal and Dharawal Lands in Sydney. I am a Dancer Yidaki player, songmaker and teacher of Cultural knowledge. I've performed all over the world at many major events and I'm passionate about both Cultural revival and maintenance particulary here in Sydney. My current role part time is the Uncle in Residence at NIDA.

Josh Sly (Murruwa) is a proud Biripi Worimi & Wiradjuri man from Bathurst. Living, working, sharing and learning culture in Western Sydney and greater Sydney area for the last 10 years. As a young child heading into his teenage years, Josh was mentored by his Elders and Knowledge Holders about his culture. This led Josh to create J.Sly Wambuul Designs in 2015 and then later Wambuul Woodworks in 2021 . Josh specialises in cultural education and connection to culture within the areas of art, dance, language, story telling, traditional toolmaking and connection to country. Josh is the leading songman of Wambuul Dancers and one of the leading songmen and dancers of Dirraybang Footprint. He is also a principal dancer of Muggera Dancers and collaborates with the Jannawi Dance Clan and Wuruniri Music and Dance.

Sharlene Cruickshank is a Wandi-wandandian Wodi Wodi Jerrinja woman from the NSW south coast. A sister, lover, mother and grandmother, Sharlene has discovered her voice late in life enjoying some fabulous opportunities to express herself through music and words with the support of her family and friends and mudjingaal yangamba women’s singing group. Mudjingaal yangamba have had the honour to share songs and music with Uncle Kev Carmody, Uncle Roger Knox, Emma Donovan, Cooee and many more collaborators. I’m a community person who is not a singer or artist but lucky enough to have met some beautiful creative artists who are generous enough to share the stage.