An artist’s work is informed from their life experiences, and Khaled Sabsabi is no different.

Born in Tripoli, Lebanon in 1965, Sabsabi’s childhood was shaped by civil war, loss and displacement, migrating with his family at age 11 to Western Sydney, where he has since remained based.

“I hope that my work is always an invitation to others to walk beside me and to reflect on ideas that connect us all,” says the 61-year-old multidisciplinary artist, who began his creative life in the mid-1980s as hip-hop performer Peacefender.

“I have always been involved with grassroots communities and worked with people to facilitate collaboration with each other and the world through cultural experiences. I have also always been obsessed with beats, and I worked closely with youth groups using music as a form of expression and responding to the world around us.

“Eventually this evolved and through an invitation from Casula Powerhouse in Western Sydney (now Liverpool Powerhouse) I created the artwork Aajyna.”

Aajyna was Sabsabi’s first visual artwork, made in 1998 from Arabic coffee on canvas and 28 repurposed speakers — experimenting with sound and vibration — reflecting on his experience of the Lebanese Civil War as a child.

Lost to time, he recreated Aajyna in 2021-2022 for a solo survey exhibition at Campbelltown Arts Centre, NSW where he describes returning to the medium of coffee as like reconnecting with an old friend.

Sabsabi has continued that bond by recreating Aajyna again in a new form to anchor major survey exhibition Between Suns at Vessel Contemporary in Fremantle this month.

Curated by Mikala Tai, the exhibition features new and previously unexhibited works from Sabsabi’s career, spanning 1998 to 2026, as it transforms Vessel Contemporary’s gallery in the Naval Store into an immersive, multi-sensory experience through painting, video, sound, smell and installation.

“On an artistic and personal point, I feel returning to my works in my lifetime is symbolic of how an individual develops physically and philosophically within their lifetime; always evolving,” Sabsabi says.

“Vessel is not the typical white cube gallery, that is evident, but with that reality and uncertainty comes opportunity, to spatial pace a holistic experience and journey for the viewer.

“In particular, this presentation of Aajyna is the most intimate, as I am working with a small disused space and I am excited by this challenge and how this will enable a new reading of this work.”

WA has a special place in Sabsabi’s heart, having provided him opportunities and milestones across his career, including A Self Portrait at Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) in 2018, which was not only his first survey exhibition in Perth, but his first solo survey in Australia.

“The exhibition (A Self Portrait) was an incredible opportunity to show multiple works made across different timelines and to stitch together narratives for conversation, poetics, and understanding,” says Sabsabi, who regards this upcoming exhibition as another timely and meaningful landmark.

“It was an incredible point for an individual to reach in their career.”

The PICA exhibition came 16 years after another significant step in Sabsabi’s creative career, travelling back to Lebanon as an adult.

“A return is always a moment. Poetically and historically, returns are a moment of completion, however, they also open up new experiences,” he recounts.

“For me, returning to Lebanon was as much a personal completion where I reconciled memories, family lineage and stories as it was the beginning of forming a new connection with Lebanon as an adult. Both of these experiences, childhood and adulthood, continue to influence and inspire my artistic practice.”

Between Suns runs concurrently with Sabsabi’s representation of Australia at the 2026 Venice Biennale, after Vessel Contemporary contacted the artist and Sydney-based Tai in mid-2025 with the Fremantle exhibition invitation.

Together they considered the space, its form and site, and from there formalised the exhibition themes, title and selected works along expanded exhibition ideas.

“The site is very special, it has its own history and rawness, and we wanted to select works that would respond to its particular context,” he adds.

“I am an artist, I am a storyteller. The power of art lies within the possibility of creating conversations and platforms, even if we as a society find those conversations to be difficult.

“I hope that each visitor who enters into the exhibition space brings their own experience, intellect and sense of self to the exhibition. So for me, there isn’t one fixed description, form or methodology for this exhibition — art is about possibilities, emotions and feeling.”

Between Suns is at Vessel Contemporary, Naval Store, Fremantle until September 20. More at vesselcontemporary.org.