Beyond Empathy is an award-winning community cultural development company that prioritizes cultural self-determination and meaningful social outcomes for participants and audiences alike.
In spaces where nothing is fixed, anything is possible, and those possibilities can feel both expansive and overwhelming. Balding is Easier Than Being Bald speaks to this tension, reflecting what it’s like to live within uncertainty – making choices without knowing exactly where they will lead. In these states of limbo, identities, ideas, and futures remain open, making them more palatable than the certainty of arrival.
Bringing together multidisciplinary works from Steep and Flow, two youth-led creative projects co-produced with Beyond Empathy across the Shoalhaven and Illawarra from 2023-2025, Balding is Easier Than Being Bald offers insight into the collaborative energy of young people shaping and reshaping their worlds. Across film, illustration, photographs, sculptures, animation, and sound, the exhibition highlights the potential of uncertainty and the value of creative process and outcome. It celebrates the creativity, resilience, and curiosity of young people navigating a world that is never fixed and reminds us that we all move through the world in a state of perpetual limbo, never fully knowing what comes next or who we might become.
Artist Bio:
Balding is Easier Than Being Bald is a collaborative body of work co-produced by over 2781 young people experiencing recurring hardship across the Illawarra and Shoalhaven regions through the 2023-25 Steep and Flow projects. 19 local emerging arts leaders were mentored, connected and/or supported by established contributing artists & cultural leaders such as Nicole Smede, Simon Grant, Dr Natalie McDonagh, D’arcy Maguire, Adam Gowen, Jazz Corr and Nathan Harrison.
Beyond Empathy is an award-winning community cultural development company with over 20 years-experience collaborating with communities experiencing recurring hardship to create high-calibre artistic projects which explore creativity, culture and lived experience through stories. Beyond Empathy prioritises cultural self-determination which leads to social change and produces nationally significant creative work, stronger cultural identity, and meaningful social outcomes for participants and audiences alike.
Beyond Empathy is assisted by the NSW Government through Create NSW and the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.
