Alana Wesley
Alana Wesley is a Sydney/Eora‑based installation and video artist. Her works explore our complex emotional and physical attachments to rituals, locations, memories, and objects. Increasingly, she is socially engaging people, from whole communities to unique characters, and incorporating them into her practice. In particular, she seeks to engage communities outside of the arts “bubble” in an attempt to cross‑pollinate worlds. Sometimes mistaken for a documentarian, or merely just a sentimentalist, her works are regularly preoccupied with nostalgia and kitschiness; a visual extension upon the themes of memory and objecthood that are so central to her practice.
In 1966, Kandos commemorated its half centenary. People celebrated by racing down Angus Avenue carrying 40kg cement bags, a tradition later revived for various community events. For Cementa26, pillowcases sourced from the community have been repurposed into soft cement bags for people to race once again. Rather than carrying the weight of history, participants are invited to carry these pillows as prizes, all in the name of honouring Kandos’s resilience and future. By reimagining this local tradition, For the Good of the Game seeks to rekindle joy, strengthen community connection, and bring people together through some healthy competition.
