The Origin
THE BACK ALLEY GALLERY BEGAN THE HUGE TRANSFORMATION OF LISMORE’S LANEWAYS IN OCTOBER 2011.
Through the combined efforts of a small group of people, the back laneways have become a sought out destination between the main streets of the Lismore CBD.
Conceived with the intention of beautifying disused space and encourage the community to take ownership of their town, the Back Alley Gallery was a series of grass roots interventions created over a 10 year period.
BAG today has expanded its scope to be a placemaking precinct and creative hub.
It is this unique relationship between the Lismore community and the BAG collective that give the laneways of Lismore their own point of difference within the realm of public art.
“...MORE THAN JUST A SPACE,
THE BACK ALLEY GALLERY IS
A COLLECTIVE OF PEOPLE WITH A
PASSION FOR PUBLIC ART,
EXPLORING WAYS PUBLIC SPACE
CAN BE USED AS A CANVAS TO
FOSTER OWNERSHIP, BELONGING
AND CONNECTION.”
The Team
WE ARE A COLLECTIVE OF LOCAL NORTHERN RIVERS BASED ARTISTS, ARTS AND CULTURAL PRODUCERS AND ACTIVATORS THAT ARE DEEPLY CONNECTED TO AND WITHIN OUR COMMUNITY.
Lismore is our home; where we work, create, meet and identify. We are passionate about the future of Lismore. We are invested in challenging the existing conventions in planning and design, working with community to define a vision and use inventive approaches to imagine new and meaningful change.
Our team is led by a core group made up of volunteers and is surrounded by Lismore and Northern Rivers artists, artisans, cultural practitioners, culture-makers, community members, small business owners and activators.
Among us there are sustained long standing relationships, having worked together on previous projects for The Quad, NORPA, Lismore Regional Gallery, Lismore City Council, Tropical Fruits, Beyond Empathy, Lismore Art Space, Creative Lismore and other artist run initiatives and events. Collaboration is a critical and crucial foundation of our creative methodologies.
Erica Gully
Back Alley Gallery
Erica is a graphic designer and visual artist with a background in art history, teaching and street art. She is a graduate of UWS and Southern Cross University where she studied visual arts, art history and education. Erica has been both a lead artist and co-manager of the Back Alley Gallery since it's conception in October 2011. Erica's background in teaching has lead to facilitation of arts workshop within the community and has worked on a variety of multidisciplinary arts based projects including her recent work on Beyond Empathy's DEFIANT project as a lead artist, producer and curator. She was also invited to facilitate street art workshops in collaboration with OXFAM's "Side by Side' gender equality and youth advocacy project in the Solomon Islands in 2018.
Joanna Kambourian
Back Alley Gallery
Joanna Kambourian is a contemporary visual artist and graphic designer living and working in Lismore. She holds an Assoc. Dip in Graphic Design from Enmore Design Centre, Sydney and is a first class Honours graduate of the Visual Arts degree at Southern Cross University. Joanna also studied printmaking and artists' books during a 6 month student exchange at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. Specialising in print, design, artists' books and works on paper in her own practice, she also has extensive experience working in public art, community art projects, teaching and facilitating creative workshops with a diverse range of people of all ages and abilities.