Under The Spotlight

By Lauren McMah, *Bonnyrigg artist's spotlight shines on culture* - Fairfield Advance - Australia; Saturday, February 6, 2011

Bonnyrigg artist Khaled Sabsabi has put Sufism under the spotlight for his contribution to Sydney Festival’s Edge of Elsewhere art project.

Sabsabi spent three months filming the meditation and chanting ceremonies of a southwest Sydney Sufi community for the project, which is at Campbelltown Arts Centre until March 13.

“It’s an insight that’s hardly ever seen in Australian society,” Sabsabi said. “For me, particularly coming from a Muslim background, it’s not about one specific religion; it’s about all of us seeking wisdom or knowledge.

“In its simplest form it’s about humanity and inner peace.”

Having migrated to Australia with his family in 1978, the Lebanese-born artist knows a thing or two about the experience of migrant communities, particularly in the southwest.

Growing up in Granville, Sabsabi found a creative outlet in hip-hop music, which allowed him to express his own sense of cultural and social displacement.

He has since worked in youth prisons and refugee camps as a community worker, which has inspired much of his extensive portfolio of multimedia artworks.

Sabsabi hopes his three simple, largely unedited video projections of Sufi ceremonies will help to demystify Sufism and deflect cultural misunderstandings of all cultural communities.

“I think the idea of demystifying something is to create access and to break down pre-conceived ideas,” he said. “There is a problem in the community when people don’t understand what the community is about.”

Entry to Edge of Elsewhere is free. Details: Edge of Elsewhere.