10 Degrees Hotter
Pari, 12 October – 23 November 2019
Artists: Serwah Attafuah, Mechelle Bounpraseuth, Nicole Barakat, Leila El Rayes, Haines & Hinterding, Gianna Hayes, Kerrie Kenton, Shivanjani Lal, Hyun Lee & EJ Son
Curators: Kalanjay Dhir & Tian Zhang

10 Degrees Hotter was the inaugural exhibition at Pari, a new artist-run initiative for Western Sydney on Darug land. The title takes its name from the heat that emanates out of Western Sydney, a result of the urban heat island effect, where hot air gets trapped in the vast concrete expanse between the mountains and the coast. Not to trivialise the real implications of this effect in the face of climate change, we saw this heat bubble as a metaphor for the energy that emerges out of the western suburbs and Pari as a way of keeping it here. 10 Degrees Hotter became a way to express our affection for the west and all that entails. The exhibition brought together 10 artists with a connection to Western Sydney, using the notion of heat to explore contemporary, historical and political concerns relevant to the area.

Read the essay.

All photos by Document Photography, courtesy of Pari.