Artist Talk: Amera Ali & Suad Smo

Join us for a powerful artist talk with Amera Ali and Suad Smo about their new exhibition, Drawn from Pain, Written from Truth.

Drawn From Pain, Written from Truth brings together the powerful testimonies of Amera Ali and Suad Smo in an exhibition that speaks to survival, memory and resilience. Captured by ISIS as young girls during the Yezidi genocide, both artists draw on lived experience to share deeply personal accounts of displacement, violence and endurance.

Through text, Amera Ali reflects on trauma, survival and the difficult process of rebuilding a life after unimaginable loss, while Suad Smo’s artworks give visual form to grief, cultural memory and resilience. Together, their practices become acts of witness and resistance, ensuring stories too often silenced are seen and heard.

Note: Amera will be attending the talk in person, while Suad will be appearing via Zoom from Iraq.

Drawn from pain, Written from Truth is proudly supported by Armidale Sanctuary Humanitarian Settlement

⚠️Please note, this exhibition and artist talk will depict and reflect on topics of genocide, assault, and tremendous loss. If these topics could cause you significant distress, please consider talking with our staff to get more information on what is depicted in the works before viewing.

Image credit: Suad Smo, Untitled (detail), 2026. Acrylic on canvas.

For tickets and more information on the opening night event following this talk, please visit our Opening Night event page.