ABOUT

Passage is a not-for-profit gallery dedicated to installation art located in Sydney’s bustling Chinatown, presenting a year long program of exhibitions that can be viewed 24/7 and without opening hours. The purpose of our organisation is firstly, to create a platform for installation artists to showcase new and exciting work, and secondly, to give the City of Sydney the unique opportunity to access art 24/7.

CONCEPT

'The Family Lexicon (a bone to pick)' by sisters Amrita Hepi and Althea Tennant transforms Passage into a sculptural sentence, one built not from words, but from turns, overlaps, and quiet gestures. Drawing on the visual language of kinship (its tensions and play), the installation explores the emotional syntax of family: its interruptions, repetitions, miscommunications, and reconciliations. Their shared lacunae through family.

Children’s playground slides repurposed, repainted, and rearranged, twist and cascade through Passage, forming a grammar of movement. They don’t simply invite play; they suggest speech, breath, descent.

Glowing inside Passage 24/7, the work becomes a form of public eavesdropping, a glimpse into a private world. The Family Lexicon (a bone to pick) is a sculptural conversation between siblings, but it’s also a broader invitation to consider how we inherit, speak, and reshape meaning through our closest relationships.