Uncle Allen Madden is a Gadigal Elder, born in 1949 on Gadigal country (Redfern). He has worked for Sydney City Council, Aboriginal Medical Service, Aboriginal Children's Service, Aboriginal Legal Service, NCAP and New Careers for Aboriginal People Employment. Uncle Allen has been on the board of Sydney Foreshore Authority, the Central Coast Aboriginal Heritage, Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council and many others.
Uncle Allen was a speaker in Talking Culture (Sydney Festival 2017) and was part of the Language Project Advisor Group for Bayala - Let's Speak Sydney Language (Sydney Festival 2017-19).
For this year’s Faces of Sydney Festival, artist Thea Anamara Perkins – an Arrernte and Kalkadoon woman – was commissioned to create four bold portraits of the First Nations people who have been an intrinsic part of the Festival over the years, to mark Wesley Enoch’s incredible tenure as Artistic Director of Sydney Festival.
The paintings were brought to life by local animators Timothy Lee / Juune李 and David Lobb working closely with Thea Perkins, with original music composed by multi-instrumentalist Lama Zakaria, and will be premiered on screens this summer both online and across the Sydney Festival precinct.
