At a time when migration continues to shape global conversations, a powerful new Sydney performance is turning attention away from politics and toward personal memory, identity and lived experience.
Ports: from Kowloon to Kamay, presented as part of Bayside Council's Chapel Nights series, is a deeply immersive site-responsive music and visual performance that brings sound, story and place into dialogue - exploring migration, memory and waterways as enduring sites of connection.
Taking place on Saturday 30 May at St Matthew's Church, the performance transforms the historic chapel into a richly layered audiovisual environment where live music, projection art and spoken poetry unfold together.
Directed by renowned pianist, Dr Jocelyn Ho, Steinway Artist and Lecturer at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, the work reflects on the emotional experience of carrying one place inside another after migration. Tracing conceptual and emotional connections between Kowloon and Kamay (Botany Bay), the performance explores how memories of a real or imagined homeland continue to resonate as people build new lives in Australia.
Rather than focusing on migration as an abstract political issue, Ports centres intimate sensory memories - ferry piers, industrial harbours, fragments of language, family relationships and the feeling of navigating multiple homes and identities at once.
The work comes from thinking about migration not only as movement between countries, but as something carried in the body. "Even after relocating, you continue to carry certain sounds, textures, places and memories emotionally and physically."
The performance features poetry by National Poetry Prize winner Eric Yip alongside ancient Chinese poetry, original compositions and visual storytelling by an interdisciplinary ensemble including:
- Dr Jocelyn Ho - piano and direction
- Dr Nicholas Ng - erhu and hulusi
- Dr Mark Oliveiro - live electronics
- Siyi Shen - projection art and visuals
Responding to the music and its themes, Siyi Shen's projected artworks extend the sonic experience into a visual meditation on migration, transformation and place, creating an evocative and immersive dialogue between sound, moving image and spoken word.
Bayside Mayor Edward McDougall said:
"Ports: from Kowloon to Kamay is a powerful example of how contemporary performance can deepen understanding, connection and cultural dialogue within our diverse community."
"I am proud that Bayside Council continues to support innovative artistic experiences that celebrate storytelling, creativity and the many cultural voices that enrich Bayside."
EVENT DETAILS
Ports: from Kowloon to Kamay
Saturday 30 May 2026
6:30pm-8:00pm
St Matthew's Church, Botany
