“I’m originally from Auckland in NZ and I have been in Northern NSW for the last 6 years. I’m an artist originally but I moved more into a community / public artist as well as an art therapist. I’ve been working in the Lismore area for the last 6 years around a lot of different Social Services and I currently run Links to Learning for the Northern Rivers Social Development Council.
In 2008 during the last year of my Bachelor of Arts I started a project called Imagine the Land which is an art installation project and at that point I became very interested in other people’s experiences of art so I started collaborating with people and developed this project, Imagine the Land which has been running now for the last 7 years. That project has been a collaboration between myself and a Croation born artist, Ekarasa Doblanovic living in New Zealand. We have done inumerable projects now throughout NZ and Australia. We’ve done a project in Columbia and we’ve been part of an International Arts project which has seen our work exhibited in different countries. We actually have some work exhibiting in Cuba at the moment which are prints of large scale collaborations.
This Saturday we have a collaboration between all the different Social Services that work with young people in the Lismore area and everyone worked together to create the event for Child Protection week this year. That event is being held here at the roundabout of Keen and Magellan St. This is going to be a big community event and absolutely everyone is invited. The central focus of the event is a very large collaboration by the community. We’re thinking it’s the largest sand and soil installation that’s happened in the Northern Rivers and we will will all work together on it. The central component of the artwork will be a baby being held which is a representation of community, effort and spirit, looking after and protecting our kids and young people and the idea of people working all together is about people putting their commitment to child protection. There will be a team of volunteers and myself and we will work on the central part in the morning. The outside is the design and as with all my installations we allow for creativity. There’s lots of room for people going in and creating their own patterns and designs.
The day will be so great and it’s an event for everybody. We have The Buckley’s playing, a wishing tree, chalk art, the Curly Cousins, lots of live music, interactive activities for all ages,
The installation is made out of regional soil and sands, all natural materials, all locally sourced. It will also feature over 500 hand made vessels made by schools and community groups. These vessels are representative of a strong vessel such as a strong person, a strong family and a strong community that can hold and support each other and protect our children.”