Collective Grief

A path through shared sorrow and resilience

DADAA Gallery, Fremantle, Western Australia

16 May - 19 July 2025

Artists: Dr Rusaila Bazlamit, Nicole Barakat, Claire B. Bushby, Nastaran Ghadiri, Zara Mollaei, Zali Morgan, Dr Elnaz Sheshgelani

Curated by Nastaran Ghadiri

This exhibition aimed to explore the multifaceted nature of collective grief and its profound impact on societies, cultures, and individuals. It brought together artists shaped by displacement, loss, and longing, creating a space where grief was acknowledged and honoured. Though each artist carried different histories, their sorrows spoke to one another. We were connected not only by loss, but also by love for our homelands, for justice, and for each other. Speaking of grief is not an act of despair, but a quiet form of resistance. In remembering, we refuse to forget. The works invited reflection on how grief bound us: to each other, to our histories, and to the futures we still dare to imagine. Here, grief was not the end of the story, but the beginning of a shared remembering and perhaps, a shared healing.