The creative team behind the video and its music are (L-R) Sean James Cassidy, Alex Gunn, Sean Lea, Jason Nacho Murchie and Kerrie Peden. (Photo: Marc Payne).
From sowing the seeds of creativity to harvesting the works, the cycle of the successful Art of Resilience competition from last year is continuing with its final product on show at the Henry Parkes Museum.
A video with animations of the winning entries, as well as interviews with the winners is on show in the Wongalea school building until the middle of next month.
Competition organiser Sean James Cassidy explains the inclusion of the museum as follows: “It is important we know our roots. The answers to the questions as we move forward, are often found from a knowledge and an appreciation of our past. Sharing this knowledge creates ideas, learning from these shared ideas, provides new options for everyone involved. In preserving knowledge from our history – we can enrich each other.”
Sean said it was important to preserve the knowledge of what the winners said so children in the future would know what they went through during these times.
Local historian and library officer Dan Fredericks supports the idea of bringing art and history together. “It is fitting that the ‘Art of Resilience’ is being shown in the Won- galea school building. This structure was used in the 1972 film Sunstruck, where Harry Secombe’s Welsh teacher tries to be resilient in the Australian outback. It again highlights how art can benefit the community, not just aesthetically but also therapeutically. The Wongalea school building being preserved and utilised this way not only highlights our local history, but also the importance of our social history.”
President of the Parkes and District Historical Society Bruce Hall sits at an old school desk in the Wongalea school building with the TV monitor behind him where the Art of Resilience video is being shown.
President of the Parkes and District Historical Society Bruce Hall said: “The video adds to the scope of what we offer at the museum. It is wonderful that Sean approached us.”
One of Bruce’s aims is to get schools and young people more involved in the museum. “We hope to restart our program with the high school again this year. There is so much students can do here from writing historical stories to helping to restore the old machines.”
He hoped the Art of Resilience video would not only bring more children to the museum, but would also inspire some of them to be creative.
The Art of Resilience competition encouraged young people in the Parkes Shire to create music, poetry, photography and art to express their emotions using the theme resilience in the face of drought, the bushfires and COVID-19.
Parkes artist Scott Turnbull, a founding member of Ub Ubbo Exchange, was very excited about the opportunities the competition offered to local talent. He said: “A good story will have struggles inside it, and stories of hard times often have hope in them. We can benefit from their knowledge and pass them on.
By Maggi Barnard