Nicole Smede is a multi-disciplinary artist of Worimi and European descent, living and creating on Wodi Wodi Country. Proud of her heritage, she works through language to reconnect to ancestry and culture. A classically trained Mezzo Soprano, she ran away from classical music early on to pursue wider artistic interests. Now, Nicole uses voice, song, sound and poetry to explore ideas around landscape and connectedness, making sense of her place in the world, reclaiming and reconnecting to ancestry.
She has performed at Parliament House and the National Multicultural Festival, and her voice has been heard globally on award-winning film scores. Nicole has received commissions from PWC and Amex for meditations, songs and poetry, created soundscapes and music for podcasts and plays and is regularly commissioned through Red Room Poetry. Her poetry can be found in journals, on ferries, visual and sound pieces, exhibitions, publications and anthologies including Australian Poetry Journal, Mascara Literary review, Never Heard of Them, Baby Teeth Journal (2019), Guwayu: for all times, Magabala Books (2020), What we Carry, Recent Work Press (2021) and 20x20x12 Sensing Place, Manta Publishing (2021). In 2020, Nicole was the co-recipient of the 2020 Shoalhaven Arts Board Grant, a finalist in the Meroogal Women's Art Prize and shortlisted for the 2020 Red Room Poetry Fellowship. Her work is acquired and held in national collecting institutions.
A passionate advocate for arts education, Nicole has conducted workshops for The NSW Department of Education's Arts Unit, The Song Company, Bundanon Trust, Red Room Poetry, Wollongong City Council and local schools in the Shoalhaven.
A versatile performer with experience spanning diverse genres, Nicole has performed and recorded repertoire from classical, theatre, rock and contemporary music through to film and other media. Her voice has been heard on National youth broadcaster Triple J, globally on award winning film scores, and graced the stages of Parliament House, City Recital Hall, Mona Foma Festival, and galleries and venues across Australia. Nicole's vocals are featured in a number of soundtracks including Ivan Sen's 'Goldstone', and APRA award winning film score '1919'.
Nicole works with a number of collaborators including award-winning composer Damien Lane, Hinterlandt, artist Bonnie Porter Greene, and multidisciplinary artist Leanne Waterhouse.