Eddie Abd & Ludwig El Haddad proof of love support material
SELECTED WORKS - Eddie Abd & Ludwig El Haddad.
Trailer of She Rested (2025 - 2026)
A song cycle performance by Aimée Falzon.
Visual art projections by Eddie Abd.
Filmed work in progress by Akil Ahamat.
Trailer edited by Ludwig El Haddad.
In Their Finest, Winner of Blake Prize - Emerging (2021) - excerpt
In Their Finest explores the conservation of tradition as negotiated by families experiencing instability and living on stolen land. It references long exposure Victorian death portraits and the traditional textiles of Greater Syria. As the video unfolds the notions of practicing tradition and social conformity are challenged by an unexpected turbulence within the Family. Featuring Eddie Abd, Ludwig El Haddad, Yasmeen El Haddad, Aram El Haddad. Digital art: Eddie Abd Videography: Ludwig El Haddad
Trailer of Gaja : a story of the elephant (2025)
An artwork by Jagath Dheerasekara, ‘Gaja: a story of the elephant’ (detail), 2025, ‘in every room’ installation view, Campbelltown Arts Centre, 2025
Ludwig El Haddad, artist collaborator for 4 channel video, editor and director for film shoot of performance
Now Look Away, Winner Create NSW Emerging Visual Arts (2022) - excerpt
Now Look Away opens a dialogue around the tension between self-referential image making and the perpetuation of orientalist representations in contemporary visual culture. The work references European 19th century orientalist studio photography and the women led practice of cross stitch embroidery of the Ottoman Greater Syria region. Featuring Ludwig El Haddad and Eddie Abd. Derbakeh by Fady Kassab. Digital art: Eddie Abd Videography: Ludwig El Haddad
Carla and Lisa's Countdown - Trailer
Two besotted fans of Australian popular culture and art are given free reign and unprecedented access to the work of their heroes in the Collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia. 6-part web series on ABC iView. A six-part web series on ABC iView.
Credits: Series Directed and Edited by Ludwig El Haddad
Full credits found in vimeo description.
Hazelbrook Woman Dressed in her Finery (with the help of the British Museum) #2 - excerpt
Exhibitd at Blue Mountains Portraits - Blue Mountains Cultural Centre (2022)
Performance and digital art: Eddie Abd
Videography: Ludwig El Haddad
My shrine is in my head - first solo show at Firstdraft (2020)
This work explores the familial performance of inherited traditions and the temptation of embodying your own exotic. The works in this installation interlace religious and textile motifs as metaphors for transcultural interplay.The staged tableaux engage the viewers in heightened performances of identities.
Performers Eddie Abd and Ludwig El Haddad, Shrines created with Aram El Haddad and Yasmeen El Haddad, Videography by Ludwig El Haddad, Photography Credit Jessica Maurer.
Photos below are from selected works and exhibitions. Photography credit: Document Photography, Jessica Maurer, Artspace
Lebanon Landing - Brand X - video installation, City of Sydney Creative Studios (2022) - excerpt
Performance Eddie Abd with Ludwig El Haddad, Aram El Haddad and Yasmeen El Haddad
I came across, for the first time, a small chapter in Lebanese history. In the 1960's a group of young students and their teacher Manoug Manougian formed the Lebanese Rocket Society. With humble beginnings, the program grew and was successful in launching a rocket into ‘space’. The program, in line with other nostalgic national narratives, was short lived and remains in the ‘what could have been’ mindspace. However, I thought we could argue that Lebanon was and still is successful in sending its citizens ‘out to explore’.
ARTIST BIOS Co-lead artists for proof of love
LUDWIG EL HADDAD is an award winning filmmaker and interdisciplinary artist. Drawing on lived experience and long-standing community engagement, his practice spans documentary, experimental video, performance, and collaborative installation. His screen-based work has been presented at Antenna Documentary Film Festival, ABC iView, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Cementa Festival, and internationally. Collaboration is a central part of his practice. He has worked closely with a range of artists, including Eddie Abd — most recently on In Its Shadow — as well as contributing to major projects led by artists such as Khaled Sabsabi and Jagath Dheerasekara.
Ludwig lives and works on Dharug and Gundungurra land, where he continues to develop work that is intimate and politically attuned.
EDDIE ABD is an artist and arts worker living on unceded Dharug and Gundungurra Country.
Eddie works with digital imaging, performance and embroidery to explore the politics of image making often through a personal lens. She has presented work in solo and group exhibitions in a variety of spaces including Arts House, Blue Mountains Cultural Centre, Verge gallery, Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Grafton Regional Gallery and Firstdraft. Eddie has worked for the past 15 years across Western Sydney collaborating with and supporting creatives and communities to realise their projects. Her experience as creative producer and curator spans working across multi form projects including performance, moving image, sound and arts projects following a CACD practice framework.
ARTIST BIOS collaborating artists for proof of love
AIMEE FALZON
Aimée's music has been described as dark, moody, religious and cinematic with a voice like a melancholic Bjork or Kate Bush.
Aimée was co-composer, singer and performer in 宿 (stay) at Sydney Festival 2022. She composed for Juxta EARTH interactive installation as part of the Bankstown Biennale and online (2022). She was composer and sound designer for NTofP’s Nothing (2022). She composed and performed the soundtrack for UTP and Sweatshop’s Sex, Drugs and Pork Rolls for Sydney Festival 2021. She was also the co-composer and lead musical performer for When The Tide Comes In (2016), a series of audiovisual performances at Carriageworks, Riverside Theatres and then online; Rizzy’s 18th Birthday at Carriageworks, which was adapted into feature film Riz that premiered at Sydney International Film Festival (2015); and outdoor live art work The Other Journey at Parramasala Festival and Ten Days on the Island Festival in Tasmania (2013). In the latter three works she was also the production designer and visual artist.
HAZEM SHAMMAS
Hazem’s work is varied across an award-winning stage and screen career and through his writing, producing and advocacy. He draws from 30 years experience working with major screen, theatre and arts companies across the country.
Shammas is known for his powerful performances in Australian television and film, including roles in Safe Harbour (2018), The Twelve (2022), Little Monsters (2019), and the Stan original series Last King of the Cross (2023). Alongside his screen work, he has an extensive theatre career, performing with leading companies such as Belvoir, Sydney Theatre Company and Griffin Theatre Company.
In addition to acting, Shammas works as a writer, producer and creative collaborator, contributing to projects that explore complex social and cultural narratives. His practice is driven by a strong commitment to storytelling, artistic collaboration and advocacy for diverse voices within the Australian arts sector.
FERAS SHAHEEN
Feras is an artist curious in letting his conceptual interests lead him across a variety of mediums. Working with choreography, film, performance and street dance to communicate his ideas, the core of Feras’ practice is to connect and engage audiences. He seeks to bring activism into his art practice, with outcomes that are accessible and community centred. Holding a Bachelor of Design from Western Sydney University (2014), Feras often subverts traditional relationships between mediums to challenge audiences’ perspectives, specifically to disrupt colonial discourses and reduce western reliance on neutrality and apathy.
Born in Dubai to Palestinian parents (Gaza/Al Lid), and moving to Western Sydney at age 11, Feras engages with his practice as a way to reflect and examine how he views the world, addressing local and global issues. Winner of The Australian Ballet’s Telstra Emerging Choreographer (TEC) in 2021, Feras has performed and exhibited at Carriageworks, Venice Biennale, Pari, Kampnagel, AGNSW, Campbelltown Arts Centre, and Théâtre de la Ville. Recent works include Art Festival, The Bop, ongoing collaboration Klapping, and Forum Q.
Image: Feras Shaheen by Shea Kirk