Zena Zada (Cumpston) is a Barkandji woman with Afghan, Irish and English heritage. Zena is a storyteller, manifesting through her work as an artist, writer, researcher, curator and consultant. She is a member of the Birrarung Council in Narrm and has worked extensively as a freelance writer. Zena began sharing her visual art practice in late 2022, forging an exciting new pathway to telegraph and extend her research and writing skills.
Across 2024 & 2025 Zena’s artworks were featured as part of the NETS national tour of ngaratya (together, us group, all in it together); The Soils Project at Van Abbemuseum, Netherlands; Lightscape (Royal Botanic Gardens Narrm); DISH (Town Hall Gallery, Narrm), as part of bíal gwiyúŋo (the fire is not yet lighted) at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and Cultural Medicine: The Art of Indigenous Healing (Medical History Museum, Narrm).
Zena presented her first solo exhibition ‘Return’ in September 2024. The body of work focussed on plants of place as part of Darebin FUSE Festival (Narrm). Most recently, Zena has been the recipient of various local and international artist residencies and collaborative opportunities focused on First Nations land-based art practices. In 2026 Zena’s work will be featured in an upcoming exhibition at Heide Museum of Modern Art (Narrm).