The National Association for the Visual Arts acknowledges the Gadigal peoples of the Eora nation, where our office is located, and all custodians of country, throughout all lands, waters, and territories, we pay our respects to elders past, present and future. KALANJAY DHIR: So my name is Kalanjay Dhir, but Kal is a lot easier. I'm an artist based on unceded Darug land, in Western Sydney. I'm kind of really interested in sci-fi. I draw a lot on spiritual texts, and a lot of popular culture too, and I guess the main question I kind of ask myself is, like, what things could look like, or what the world could look like, what the things we interact with, if there was more kind of diversion, in the way we went about building. QUESTION: WHAT HAS BEEN A TURNING POINT IN YOUR CAREER? KALANJAY DHIR: So a big turning point for me in my career, is actually, I guess, the starting point of my career? If I can call it that? It's like... So I graduated art school, SAE, in 2016, and then the year after, I was lucky to be accepted into Paramatta Artist Studios, and that was really the turning point, or starting point of my practice as an artist. And I'm still there now luckily, I've been here like three years, and it was really kind of a, it just, like, gave me confidence as an artist, invaluable experience. I was kind of put in a situation where, I would always have to explain what I was doing, to not just like the art community, but like the public, even like, you know, we do kids workshops and stuff. So it's like, trying to explain what an artist is, to so many different kinds of people. QUESTION: IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE RESHAPED IN THE ARTS SECTOR? KALANJAY DHIR: So I think there's obviously, you know, a lot of room for improvement in the art sector. But I think one thing that I would like to comment on, is there's, like, a lot of conversation right now, about representation. In not just the art sector, but in many kinds of places. And I think it's an important conversation, but it is also kind of... I read a good tweet that was like, you know, "you're not being represented, you're being marketed to". And I think that was an important kind of way, for me to understand what this conversation is about. Representation is important, it's important to see people who aren't represented, to see themselves, but at the same time, I think it's important to know that it's not a marker of progress. It's not the end point. It's not a marker of change. So I think that's something that I want to kind of push past, like as a good starting point, but yeah. QUESTION: HOW DO YOU SURVIVE AS AN ARTIST? KALANJAY DHIR: So 'I survive as an artist', I kind of interpreted this in two ways, there's a material kind of survival, and I'm very lucky to live in my parents' garage still, so thank you, mum and dad. I think a lot of people in the arts, have side hustles, or main hustles and then art is the side hustle. So I do install at a lot of places, and I do a lot of different work with council. But I think the other side of surviving in the arts is actually having a really strong community and network, to support, to bounce off, to realise that, you know, you're not the only one doing this thing. So it's like, having nice people to lean on and work with. Yeah.