INDEPENDENT 2000 - 2011

As a freelance director and performance maker, Claudia has made work with young people, migrant and refugee communities. She has worked with community agencies such as the Somali Women’s Cultural Group, for the Africultures Festival, The Tent Project (Director.2011); Auburn Community Development Network, Kite Festival (Creative Producer.2010); Bankstown Youth Development Service and Information and Cultural Exchange. She has worked with performance artists and theatre companies such as Urban Theatre Projects, Belvoir St Theatre and Performance Space. Projects include Girlz Gaze (Devisor.Performer.2004); Girt by Sea (Dir. Deborah Pollard), In Our Name (Assistant Dir.2004); Museum of Fetishised Identities, a performance residency with internationally acclaimed performance artists Guillermo Gomez Pena and Juan Ybarra (Devisor.Performer.2001). She was a member of the UTP performance ensemble (1999-2000)

THE TENT PROJECT

Five tents. Five storytellers. Multiples stories. Welcome to The Tent Project. Over an eight-week period, young people from diverse African communities participated in a creative program that involved music, stop motion animation and acting. The result was an interactive performance installation that told stories inspired by the participants homeland, their lived experiences as a young person leaving their home, their life in refugee camps and settling into a new place. The Tent Project was an Africultures Festival initiative.

GIRLZ GAZE

In a backyard there is a woman bent over her garden. By her side are two garden gnomes. The woman's daughter returns home after sometime away. The mother welcomes her daughter home, unaware of the secret life she has been living. Secrets unravel, the gnomes come to life and the neighbour turns out to be one hot chick. A performance exploring ideas of sexuality and cultural identity with young women from diverse Arab communities.